2020 -- S 2750

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LC005015

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     STATE OF RHODE ISLAND

IN GENERAL ASSEMBLY

JANUARY SESSION, A.D. 2020

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A N   A C T

RELATING TO COURTS AND CIVIL PROCEDURE – PROCEDURE GENERALLY

     Introduced By: Senators Cano, Crowley, Quezada, and Metts

     Date Introduced: March 04, 2020

     Referred To: Senate Judiciary

     It is enacted by the General Assembly as follows:

     SECTION 1. Title 9 of the General Laws entitled "COURTS AND CIVIL PROCEDURE

- PROCEDURE GENERALLY" is hereby amended by adding thereto the following chapter:

CHAPTER 9-34

THE STOP GUILT BY ACCUSATION ACT

     9-34-1. Short title.

     This chapter shall be known and may be cited as the “The Stop Guilt By Accusation Act.”

     9-34-2. Legislative findings.

     The general assembly hereby finds and declares that:

     (1) The First Amendment of the United States Constitution asserts that the government

“shall make no law abridging the freedom of the press”;

     (2) Freedom of the press in the United States is not absolute and is subject to certain

restrictions, such as defamation law;

     (3) The state has a compelling interest to compel the press to promote the objective truth

for the sake of the viability of democracy and for the safety, health, and welfare of our communities

and in keeping with the spirit of the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment and to stop

the press from serving as a slander machine;

     (4) There has been a growing trend for individuals to abuse process and maliciously

prosecute someone they disagree with ideologically by filing spurious cases and controversies in

various government venues for ulterior motives, knowing that certain segments of the media that

align with their ideology would serve as an accomplice by engaging in a form of defamation in-

kind by selectively reporting on the facts of the original case but not on the actual outcome in

actions where the petitioner received less relief than originally sought, which cultivates an unjust

prejudicial conviction in the court of public opinion causing the accused to be shunned, avoided,

and marginalized and the media outlet guilty of defamation in-kind to the point that it unduly

decreases the quality of life for the accused;

     (5) The pattern of media outlets only reporting on the facts of a case and controversy but

not the outcome has incentivized the abuse of our institutions of justice to the point that it threatens

to erode the community’s trust in the integrity of different government institutions, while giving

license to unaccountable members of the press to abuse their position with impunity by trampling

civil liberties; and

     (6) The state has a compelling interest to compel the press to promote the truth because

without truth, there is no freedom – freedom comes from the truth.

     9-34-3. Definitions.

     As used in this chapter:

     (1) “Abuse of process” means the act of bringing and following through with a civil or

criminal action or case and controversy for a purpose known to be different from the purpose for

which the action was designed. The term includes proceedings that are brought for ulterior reasons

than sought on the surface.

     (2) “Accused” means a person who is blamed for a wrongdoing before a civil court, ethics

commission, criminal court, administrative court, or a military tribunal. The term includes a person

who has been arrested or formally charged by an indictment, information, or presentment with a

crime or ethical violation.

     (3) “Case and controversy” means any civil, criminal, or ethical proceedings before any

governmental, state, federal, and administrative court, ethics commission, military tribunal, or

legislative body.

     (4) “Court of public opinion” means the general community consensus or opinion.

     (5) “Defamation” means a false and unprivileged statement of fact that is harmful to

someone’s reputation, and published with fault, meaning as a result of negligence or malice.

     (6) “Defamation in-kind” means the failure of a media outlet to report on the outcome of a

case and controversy after it reported on the initial filings of a case and controversy in which the

petitioner ended up receiving less relief than originally sought or could have obtained, which could

reasonably cultivate a conviction in the court of public opinion by placing the accused in a false

light that causes him or her to be avoided, marginalized, and shunned by the general public.

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     (7) “False light” means an untrue or misleading portrayal.

     (8) “Malicious prosecution” means the act of initiation of a criminal prosecution or civil

suit or other proceedings against another party with malice and without probable cause.

     (9) “Media outlet” means a publication or broadcast program that provides news and

feature stories to the public through various distribution channels. Media outlets include

newspapers, magazines, radio stations, television stations, and certain websites on the Internet that

are part of the press. A media outlet does not involve a person who does not work in the press as a

profession or who does not regularly engage in the business of reporting.

     (10) “Mugshot” means an official photograph taken after the accused suspect is arrested

for an alleged criminal violation. The intended purpose of the mugshot is to allow law enforcement

to have a photographic record of the arrested individual. Mugshots are also intended to be used for

identification by victims and investigators. Usually, mugshots are two (2) part, one side-view photo,

and another front-view photo.

     (11) “Petitioner” means a person or government body who presents a petition to a

government authority with respect to a particular cause. The terms shall be inclusive of plaintiffs,

claimant, or complainant.

     (12) “Press” means the people such as reporters and photographers who work for

newspapers, magazines, televisions, websites, and radio outlets.

     9-34-4. Duty of a media outlet to publish a follow-up report on the outcome of a case

and controversy under certain conditions following a timely demand notice.

     (a) A media outlet is required to provide equal coverage in comparable time, place,

magnitude, prominence, scale and manner in the same format as the original reporting of a case

and controversy, if and only if:

     (1) The media outlet reported on the facts of a case and controversy and the final verdict

provided less relief against the accused than originally sought by the petitioner or less than could

have been obtained by the petitioner; and

     (2) The accused or the authorized agent of the accused sends an electronic or written

demand notice to an authorized agent of the media outlet within twenty (20) days after the verdict

or outcome, demanding that the facts surrounding the final and actual decision or outcome be

reported and published as a follow-up to the original reporting.

     (b) In the written notification described in subsection (a) of this section, the accused or the

authorized agent of the accused must include:

     (1) The date and source of the first reporting by the media outlet;

     (2) A short description of the original allegations, the original relief sought by the

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petitioner, or the amount of relief that could have been obtained, and a short description of the final

outcome and the relief actually awarded;

     (3) The location of the venue where the case and controversy was resolved and the docket

number of the case and controversy, if one was assigned;

     (4) An acknowledgment that the positions asserted in the demand notice are declared under

oath, under the penalty of perjury, pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1746;

     (c) In the demand notice described in subsection (a) of this section, the accused or the

authorized agent of the accused may include:

     (1) A photograph of the accused that authorizes the media outlet to use it at its discretion;

     (2) Links to or a hard copy of the original coverage published by the media outlet;

     (3) A demand to take down any unflattering pictures or mugshots of the accused that were

used in the original publication; and

     (4) Any other facts or pertinent information that could be relevant.

     (d) If a media outlet reports on the facts of a case and controversy and displays the mugshot

of the accused, and the accused is acquitted, enters into a plea of nolo contendere, or receives an

outcome more favorable than originally sought by the petitioner or available to the petitioner:

     (1) The media outlet shall take down or remove the mugshot from any digital publication,

if possible;

     (2) The media outlet shall not display the mugshot in the follow-up publication that reports

on the actual outcome of the case and controversy and shall only display images that it has the

authorization to use.

     (e) If the result of a civil trial is settled under the terms of a private settlement agreement,

the accused is not required to provide the terms of the private settlement agreement but can alert

the media outlet that the case and controversy was settled.

     9-34-5. Civil liability, penalties, statute of limitations.

     (a) After receiving the demand notice by the accused described in § 9-34-4, a media outlet

that reported on the facts of the case and controversy prior to its resolution shall have ten (10) days

to comply with the demand notice by publishing a follow-up story that reports on the actual

outcome. The accused shall have the burden of proof at a civil trial to show that the notice was

timely served on the media outlet, and met all of the requirements of § 9-34-4.

     (b) If the media outlet fails to comply with the demand notice within ten (10) days, the

accused has one year to file suit from the day of non-compliance and can seek the following relief

in a court of competent jurisdiction against the media outlet:

     (1) Statutory damages of ten thousand dollars ($10,000);

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     (2) Attorneys' fees and costs;

     (3)Actual damages; and

     (4) Other forms of equitable and injunctive relief.

     (c) If multiple media outlets fail to comply with the demand notice subject to the

jurisdiction of the court, they can be added as co-defendants in a consolidated case to conserve

judicial economy.

     (d) If the media outlet displayed the mugshot of the accused in the original publication as

described in § 9-34-4, in a digital format, the accused can seek injunctive relief to have the media

outlet remove the image.

     9-34-6. Immunity, exceptions, and exemptions.

     (a) A media outlet is immune and exempt from liability under this chapter if it:

     (1) Is known to publish satire or parody or admits that it is a fake news outlet, and its

purpose is to traffic in fiction peddling for comedic or entertainment purposes.

     (2) Reports on the facts of the outcome in comparable time, place, magnitude, prominence,

scale and manner of the original publication prior to receiving the demand notice from the accused;

     (3) Receives an untimely demand notice more than twenty (20) days after the day of the

verdict by the accused; or

     (4) Never reported on the case and controversy prior to the decision being reached.

     (b) The petitioner has no standing under this chapter to make a media outlet report on the

outcome of a case and controversy regardless of the outcome. Neither the petitioner nor the accused

have standing to compel a media outlet to report on the case and controversy after it is filed.

     (c) If a media outlet reported on a case or controversy involving one or more felony charges

and the accused was convicted or plead guilty to one felony count, the accused lacks standing to

enforce this chapter.

     (d) The act does not apply to a media outlet that publishes a documentary, film, or an

extensive investigative report regarding a case and controversy.

     9-34-7. Waiver of rights.

     (a) An accused has the right to waive his or her rights under this chapter as a part of a

negotiated settlement.

     (b) A court of competent jurisdiction has the discretion to not acknowledge that waiver of

rights described in subsection (a) of this section, if there is any evidence that the waiver was

undertaken under coercion.

     9-34-8. Construction and purpose.

     The purpose of this chapter is to:

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     (1) Prevent unchecked media outlets from acting as slander machines by engaging in

defamation in-kind, abusing the general public, and degrading the integrity of our institutions of

justice through selective reporting on cases and controversies that cultivates false narratives to the

point that it unduly injures the accused by eroding their civil liberties causing them to be shunned

and avoided by the general public due to a cloud of suspicion of wrongdoing that does not exactly

align with the original allegations or the relief provided in a case and controversy lodged before a

governmental body;

     (2) Protect the integrity of the press and encourage good character of the members of the

press core;

     (3) Deter malicious prosecution, abuse of process in general, prosecutors from

overcharging defendants, and plaintiff’s from seeking excessive reliefs in the original cause

complaint;

     (4) Promote a mercy centric justice system because no human is perfect; and

     (5) Deter convictions in the court of public opinion that do not necessarily align with

convictions by our institutions of justice.

     SECTION 2. This act shall take effect upon passage.

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EXPLANATION

BY THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL

OF

A N   A C T

RELATING TO COURTS AND CIVIL PROCEDURE – PROCEDURE GENERALLY

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     This act would create “The Stop Guilt by Accusation Act” which would preclude the media

from engaging in defamation in-kind through selective reporting on cases and controversies that

cultivate false narratives so that it unduly injures the accused, causing them to be shunned and

avoided by the general public due to a cloud of suspicion of wrongdoing that is not accurate as to

the original allegations or the relief provided in a case or controversy.

     This act would take effect upon passage.

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