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A federal judge has granted a preliminary injunction against an investigator for Attorney General Todd Rokita over his response to social media posts from a Bloomington man.
The injunction prohibits Kurt Spivey, director of investigations for Rokita’s office, and anyone acting on behalf of the office’s investigations division from threatening Lee Lawmaster with legal action to suppress future social media posts or punish him for past ones using the term “86,” the ACLU of Indiana said Wednesday.
U.S. District Judge Sarah Evans Barker ruled on the injunction Tuesday.
Lawmaster and the ACLU sued Spivey last spring after the Bloomington resident claimed the investigator threatened to pursue legal action against him over a Facebook post that Lawmaster said was protected speech.
According to the lawsuit, Lawmaster expressed his political views and protested the prosecution of former FBI Director James Comey for a recent social media post he made depicting the numbers “86 47.”
Comey was indicted earlier this year for posting an Instagram photo of seashells depicting the numbers, which were interpreted as him making threats to President Donald Trump, the 47th president of the United States. According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, “86” is a slang term meaning “to throw out,” the complaint states.
Lawmaster posted the number “86” in the comment sections of Facebook pages for Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita, Indiana Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith and Indiana Sen. Jim Banks.
The complaint said Lawmaster would write “86” followed by the name of the official whose page he was on to protest the officials’ actions and policies to “urge that they be thrown out and gotten rid of.”
In May, Lawmaster said Spivey visited his house and confronted him about the comments, stating that although he has free speech rights, Lawmaster allegedly crossed the line by making “threats like that,” referring to the “86” comments.
According to the complaint, Spivey told Lawmaster that if Comey was indicted, the attorney general’s office could “easily indict you over this today.”
Spivey requested that Lawmaster agree to “tone it down a little bit,” and said he hoped he wouldn’t have to come back to speak with him, the complaint states.
ACLU of Indiana Legal Director Ken Falk said Wednesday that they were pleased with Barker’s ruling.
“Mr. Lawmaster was never charged with a crime, but when a state official shows up on your doorstep and threatens prosecution over something you posted online, the message is pretty clear,” Falk said in a statement. “The government shouldn’t be able to accomplish through intimidation what the First Amendment prohibits it from doing directly.”
Spivey did not return a message from The Indiana Lawyer on Wednesday seeking comment.
Rokita’s office said in May that the posts were death threats, not just opinions. A spokesperson for Rokita said Wednesday that the attorney general’s office was reviewing the court order.
“Death threats are prominent among statewide office holders – especially the Attorney General,” the spokesperson said in an email. “He has faced several against him and his family – including one individual who pleaded guilty to intimidation in Marion County with another case pending.
“We take any and all perceived threats extremely seriously and this situation is no different.”
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