MinnLawyer Blog

Nuttall

On Monday the United States Supreme Court denied a certiorari petition in Crawley v. Minnesota, which involved a First Amendment challenge to a Minnesota law that criminalizes false reports of police misconduct. That denial lets stand the Minnesota Supreme Court’s decision, State v. Crawley,  determining that the law is constitutional with a narrowing construction. The Minnesota court construed the statute to refer only to defamatory speech and also said that the statute was not unconstitutional under In Re R.A.V., a First Amendment case from the U.S. Supreme Court that originated in Minnesota.

The case is from Winona County.  The attorneys are Stephanie Nuttall for the state and Scott Flaherty for the petitioner.