Last January, the operator of RipOffReport.com, which is the Xcentric Ventures, LLC filed a federal lawsuit in Iowa looking to block any further investigation of its activities by Sac Country, Iowa District Attorney Ben Smith. He had indicted one ROR operative, Darren Meade for witness tampering and other charges. In addition to this, RipOffReport sought an injunction blocking Attorney Ben Smith from further pursuing the investigation and last week a federal magistrate recommended granting the injunction in part.

Apart from this, the court rejected the claim of RipOffReport since “there is substantial evidence suggesting that the plaintiffs materially contributed to the alleged illegality of the information at issue. As noted above, there is an undisputed connection between Magedson and Meade concerning the Richer case, as they have participated in a “common cause” to free Richer. Xcentric made substantial payments to Meade while he was gathering information and posting complaints about the case. Including complaints with titles that associate certain state’s witnesses with illegal and embarrassing conduct.”

RipOffReport attempts to argue that, although it paid Meade substantial sums it didn’t have any advance involvement. And this is one of the reasons why the court rejected the claim, noting that it could not believe that RipOffReport was blissfully unaware of what Meade was planning to post. Meade has testified that RipOffReport founder Ed Magedson directed him to make posts about Bennet Kelley out of concern that he might represent one of their adversaries.

Despite the fact that the record indicated that RipOffReport had conspired with Meade. The magistrate recommended granting the injunction since it found Smith’s actions to be retaliatory for their posting negative content about him on each of RipOffReport pages.
The court explained, “there is substantial evidence that Smith’s actions have been motivated, in large part, by statements made about him on RipOffReport. Smith admits that he has worked over a thousand hours and has issued over one hundred subpoenas during his investigation into RipOffReport. Smith presented no evidence that in his role of Sac Country Attorney, he has devoted similar time and resources to other investigations of potential misdemeanor offenses.

The finder of fact could easily determine that Smith is treating this investigation differently, and indeed obsessively, because he is angry and embarrassed by RipOffReport posts that have criticized and ridiculed him. But this ignores the fact that Sac Country is a tiny country with only 10,350 people.

Most small counties like Sac Country are not normally targeted for abuse by large websites so that this investigation would take substantially more of Smith’s time than prior cases. The court recommended limiting the injunction only to Smith such that it would not prevent the Attorney General of Iowa or a special prosecutor from investigating potential criminal charges against plaintiffs. It means RipOffReport is by no means out of danger of indictment.

If you want to know the opinion of the Court, please feel free to visit this website for more information:

https://www.scribd.com/doc/275219321/Xcentric-Ventures-v-Ben-Smith-Injunction-Order

The post Magistrate Gives RipOffReport Split Decision To Where They Still Could Be Prosecuted appeared first on NIR News / National Investigative Report.

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Recently, a federal judge ruled that the tactics used by police in order to control Ferguson protesters are unconstitutional. U.S District Judge asked the police not to use tear gas on protesters and ordered the law enforcement agencies to halt the “5 second rule.” This rule demands that protesters should keep moving instead of standing still. However, the order comes to stop enforcing such requirements because it violates constitutional rights of the protesters.

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Catherine Perry, U.S District Judge issued an injunction stopping the practice of keep moving and standing still on sidewalks. No doubt, the injunction is a great win for law-abiding and peaceful protesters who believe in rule of law. According to Perry’s injunction, police violated the free speech rights as well as due process rights. Moreover, the injunction does not stop the police from controlling or protecting crowd against violence using lawful means. It no longer limits the abilities of officers in enforcing state’s laws.

Some of protesters filed the lawsuit requesting to restrict the police from using tear gas and excessive forces during demonstrations. Perry declared that the citizens have a constitutional right to gather in wake of tragic death of Michael Brown Jr. Nevertheless, they do not have any right to harm other citizens or police officers. The police should perform their duties and responsibilities efficiently as nothing in this injunction prevent them in doing so.

Police has been using varying tactics to control the crowd after the officer Darren Wilson shot and killed Michael Brown Jr. Some police officers started to instruct protesters that they cannot stand still for more than 5 seconds and should keep moving all times. Legal observers quickly refused to accept this “5 second rule” and clearly state that it tends to enhance community tension. Police tried to undermine the protester’s rights to demonstrate. However, on constitutional grounds, the law enforcement officials failed the police’s attempt in carrying out such a practice.

The post Ferguson Protesters Win Federal Judge’s Injunction To Prevent Police Enforcing “5 second rule” appeared first on NIR News / National Investigative Report.