There is a horrific story out of Michigan where a couple, Scott and Jennifer Petkov, are accused of a cruel campaign targeting a seven-year-old girl, Kathleen Edwards who is dying from Huntington’s disease. The Petkov’s allegedly posted pictures showing Kathleen’s mother (Laura Edwards, who died of the disease last year at the age of 24) in the arms of the grim reaper and photo shopped a picture of Kathleen with her face above a set of crossed bones. The story (which has gone viral internationally) raises questions over the possible civil and criminal liability for such actions.
Jennifer Petkov is accused of some of the most outrageous acts and raises the same social and legal questions surrounding Lori Drew in the case of Megan Meier.
Reports allege that the Petkovs began a campaign of harassment after they asked if their children could come over to a birthday party for Kathleen. When there was no immediate response, according to the Rose family, the Petkovs turned nasty and started saying horrible things about the dying girl.
In addition to the pictures, the Petkovs allegedly drove their truck named the “Death Machine” up and down their street honking their horn. They later left the truck festooned with coffins in front of the Rose house (though they insisted it is just a Halloween decoration).
Witnesses say that the couple routinely laughed at Laura and her daughter for the neurological disease that causes involuntary writhing movements.
One of most upsetting statements attributed to the Petkovs was their telling Kathleen directly “I can’t wait until you die.” Jennifer Petkov is quoted as admitting that she continued the campaign for “personal satisfaction” and “because it burns Rebecca Rose’s ass raw.” Rebecca Rose is the mother of Laura and grandmother of Kathleen.
Kathleen’s father reportedly begged the Petkovs to stop, asking them ” ‘Just leave us alone; that’s all we want. Don’t make any more comments about our daughter.”
Scott Petkov and his wife have now apologized. Scott Petkov described how his wife’s “brutal honesty” has caused his family to “not get along with a lot of people.” For her part, she now admits “What I did was ignorant and wrong.” Scott Petkov said that, after they posted the pictures on Facebook, he was suspended with pay from his job as a forklift repairman.
They cannot apologize in person because at the height of the harassment, the Rose secured a restraining order against them.
Here is Jennifer Petkov before she decided contrition as opposed to taunting was the proper response to public outrage:
The question is what criminal or civil liability the Petkovs could face. They have a constitutional right to be horrible people. However, their first amendment rights are limited in cases of harassment, stalking, and other crimes. The most obvious criminal charge would be any violation of the restraining order. Such orders generally do not include limitations on speech such as Facebook sites and public statements. The truck could be an issue if parked within the protected zone. I do not believe Michigan has a cyber-bullying statute. What I am unclear about is why the police did not pursue this as a child abuse case, if it is true that the Petkovs confronted the little girl. If that account is false, there remains the campaign directly against the little girl as a possible abuse or stalking case.
The most obvious course for the Rose family would be a civil lawsuit for intentional infliction of emotional distress. There is probably not an action for privacy violations here, such as intrusion upon seclusion or public disclosure of embarrassing private acts. Likewise, words alone are generally insufficient for assault. However, what is fascinating about the case is Jennifer Petkov’s admission that she wanted to harm the Rose family in taking these actions.
In the end, either criminal or civil claims run into the first amendment and the right of the Petkovs to say despicable things, even allegedly to and about a dying seven-year-old girl. This is strikingly similar to the claims in the pending Westboro case before the Supreme Court. Indeed, this drama was unfolding in Michigan at the very time that the justices were hearing arguments on the right of an extremist and homophobic church to say hateful things at funerals for fallen soldiers. I believe that the Westboro Church does have first amendment rights guaranteeing such protests as a general principle. The Westboro church appears to have complied with orders to confine their protest to a certain area that was separated from the family’s church and funeral functions.
The Petkov case could be different if they crossed the line in harassing this child and confronting the family directly. While Jennifer Petkov has been called “the Devil on Detroit Street” the devil will be in the details in whether she would be able to cloak herself in the first amendment to protect her hateful speech. We simply need to confirm the specific acts in the case to determine the viability of criminal or tort liability in the case.
Source: Daily Mail
Jonathan Turley
Kay,
Yes I am and yes I have but only for academics, never in practice. It just never came up in what I did.
That access to courts study is great. Thank you for the link.
You are a lawyer, right? Have you ever actually written a petition for mandamus?
Yes I think this study is great.
I am a real fan of the idea of Access to Courts. I think school kids should be encouraged to resolve bullying and other problems thru mini court and that all high schools should offer courses in law.
I am sorry if I misunderstood your comments. It is not that I really want to spend more days blogging about Sieverding v. DOJ. It is just that my entire life is hanging on it — the roof over my head and my ability to buy basic necessities as well as my reputation and freedom. I am generally a positive and resourceful person but at least 100 times I must have thought about suicide because of my frustration with the courts and the burdens my evil nasty and I think criminal defendants put on me and my family. And I am someone who always wants to find the silver lining.
I also view all this from the standpoint of city planning — the subject of my degree. I know a lot of lawyers think that zoning and land use regulations are boring and unimportant but actually there is really a lot of money and emotion associated with them, and with any boundary dispute — the basis of WWI for instance.
When I went to Routt County Court to get mandamus to get my former neighbor the City council president to comply with the zoning I was totally unsuccessful even though I had Ed Serr a land use lawyer who I was paying who had litigated against the City of Steamboat Springs giving me advise in the background. I thought that Judge Joel Thompson was blackmailed because the next year the DEA arrested his girlfriend and I had heard my neighbor was a drug dealer (in 2009 he admitted a felony conviction). When Thompson said that he didn’t have mandamus authority, Serr advised us that appeal would be pointless because by the time it was completed the extra buildings would be completed and they wouldn’t order a tear down.
http://www.steamboatpilot.com/news/2000/jul/26/city_council_president/?more_like_this
http://www.steamboatpilot.com/news/2000/jul/27/case_against_council/?more_like_this
Just recently I found
http://www.ca10.uscourts.gov/opinions/01/01-2096.pdf
so I was correct that there is mandamus to enforce the zoning. I don’t see why that can’t be available to individuals and small projects and not just when there is large projects and big law.
You are a lawyer, right? Have you ever actually written a petition for mandamus?
kay,
You can wonder all you like.
If you think I’m for the Chamber of Commerce? You haven’t been reading or understanding my posts. I think the Chamber of Commerce operates like a fascist criminal organization spreading political graft and should have the FBI on them like white on rice.
Quite to the contrary on the access issue, I’m all for better access – I just choose not to feed your personal quest for reasons I’ve already stated. However, you may find this interesting . . .
Access To Justice In U.S. At Third-World Levels, Says Survey
Here’s a direct link to the survey Froomkin is talking about:
http://worldjusticeproject.org/
Actually I’ve been wondering about the identity and agenda of “Buddha is Laughing”. Are you associated with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce ? — i.e. are you planting ideas that are anti Access to Courts?
A temper tantrum is an unplanned, unintentional expression of anger, often with physical and verbal outbursts.
Your assumption (and implication) Jeff is that what I do is unplanned or unintentional.
That would be an incorrect assumption.
Yes Buddha laughs but does not stoop adolescent temper tantrums.
There are faults in the idea of death by bad publicity for the tortious neighbors. 1.) No remedy for the injured neighbors. 2.) Imperfect sanctions — tortious neighbors can probably escape financial consequences by moving etc. Sanctions may adversely affect innocent parties. Public information may be inaccurate or misleading. 3.) Bad precedent of leaving unstable and potentially dangerous situation without professional intervention encouraging vigilante justice. So far there has been no mention of a gun. It is unlikely that the parties involved don’t have access to guns even though they apparently don’t have access to courts.
roflol W=c.
Maybe a good supply of Charmin would clear up the infestation.
And to Bakersfield,
Troll is as troll does, Forrest.
Here’s the evidence . . .
http://jonathanturley.org/2010/09/09/teens-beat-to-death-81-year-old-man-attending-granddaughters-wedding-on-a-dare/
Any credibility you think you have here is simple delusion on your part.
Buddha Is Laughing ;
As Worf showed, Klingons are quite competent and intelligent so that kind of rules these trolls out in this instance.
I’m thinking they are more like Ferengi. Just as unpleasant but without the ability to raise an effective offense.
———————————————-
I was referring to the other variety…sans Trekkie interpretation….;) but gotta say….that’s quite the flaming pyre you’ve got there……..
and off you go again in another nonsensical ramble. troll this and troll that
I’m better than you and I’m smarter than you and I use bigger words than you – but its not me that’s using such gutteral language is it?
It’s not me that’s being hung by my own petard is it?
Get it into your lil green head. these are your words, quotes of your posts in all of their logical glory, clearly showing the hypocracy of your words.
Choosing to ignore them will nnot make them go away
I am just the messenger here, you the hypocrite – I push the button and you jump about – just as youi have always done
hyperbole \hī-ˈpər-bə-(ˌ)lē\, n.,
: extravagant exaggeration
If you can’t recognize it when you see it, that would be your problem, troll. Perhaps I should clearly label such statements to aid you trolls with compromised cognitive abilities.
As to anything else you have to say?
blah blah blah blah
That you think you have any credibility here is just hysterical.
You seem to be developping a real potty mouth, you might want to calm down before you pop a vein, so much anger
“What I have is a record of not putting up with trollish bullshit” That is clearly untrue – you have a record for being a hypocrite and blowing like a big green windsock in which ever direction you see fit.
The quotes are posted for all to see and still you dispute them.
These are your own words you are disputing.
I don’t agree that giving someone a good old country ass whooping would serve anything other than revenge and as we both know that could never be condoned or accepted, yet that is what you said. I would prefer to see them publicly humiliated and then prosecutede inline with the law and hopefully left to carry the financial implications of their acts.
Your suggestion is only one step short of the lynch mobs in the second rate westerns and I could never accept such an obviously flawed premise, even from you.
What I have is a record of not putting up with trollish bullshit.
You, on the other hand, have a record for being a disreputable lying troll using multiple identities and spewing verbal diarrhea in inappropriate places.
My record plays much better than yours.
Now let me make this clear: That a troll thinks I’m a hypocrite means absolutely nothing to me or to the regular participants of this forum.
Now get to crackin’ on those socks. I hear your mom loading the washing machine right now.
Bakersfield:
“You have a record for abusing those who have a different opinion to yours and go to great lengths to stomp on them with the help of ol’ merriam webster.”
He uses “logic” as well, precise, off the market logic. Doncha know.
Hey bud, why so bitter?
why do you find yourself reverting to foul and abusive language?
There is no need to be so base, just as there is no need to promote acts of violence in the name of justice, surely this would make us no better than those we wish to punish. tit for tat and an eye for an eye are no substitute for a suitable punishment that maximizes the inconvenience to the perpetrator by passing the maximum costs to them directly without creating an additional burden on society such as prison time and/or economic damages paid as restitution that leaves the perpetrator physically whole but chained to their bad act socially and economically, possibly in perpetuity?
All I have done is post three examples of posts made by you which conflict each other and show you to be a hypocrite. have I done wrong?
You have a record for abusing those who have a different opinon to yours and go to great lengths to stomp on them with the help of ol’ merriam webster.
“Why hasn’t someone stepped up and offered their services to the wronged neighbors”
I know of at least a dozen eager young gentlemen who would gladly step up and quietly resolve the Edwards problem with this family.
However this would not be in the best interest of justice and at best would be seen as a tit for tat act, or an act of revenge.
I would think the “death by media and public opinion” that they will surely face will be a darn sight more effective than any amount of good old fashioned country ass whoopings that they may receive.
Except I’m not answerable to you and your accusations have already been proven multiple times to be of the same dog shit quality as your brain.
Don’t you children have socks to be making crusty for your mom to wash? At least when you take a shot at that task you end up with something other than frustration for your efforts.
Or maybe not.
Sexual dysfunction can lead to all kinds of irrational behavior, especially in teens.
Run along now, Andy Troll.
Spinach:
I concur.