David A. Norris, K5UZ

Director, Delta Division

Sent from my iPhone

On Jun 15, 2020, at 4:23 PM, Mickey Baker <fishflorida@gmail.com> wrote:

Interesting state court ruling. Smart judge. Defendant sounds a bit whacked out... Menefee is interesting for harassment complaints we've seen lately in Florida.

Mickey Baker, N4MB
Palm Beach Gardens, FL
“The servant-leader is servant first… It begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve, to serve first. Then conscious choice brings one to aspire to lead." Robert K. Greenleaf

On Mon, Jun 15, 2020 at 5:00 PM Roderick, Rick, K5UR via arrl-odv <arrl-odv@reflector.arrl.org> wrote:

From Riley. See his comments below. Noteworthy case from Tennessee Court of Appeals concerning criminal contempt and harassment over amateur radio.

73,

Rick - K5UR

-----Original Message-----
From: RILEY HOLLINGSWORTH <rilepatholling@comcast.net>
To: Rick Roderick <K5UR@arrl.org>
Sent: Mon, Jun 15, 2020 3:34 pm
Subject: Per e mail--the Tennessee Ct of Appeals case

Here's an excerpt, and the decision is attached. This stems from the 7200/3860 case and while not binding of course in other states, it is a guide and gives actions in other states more ammunition--especially when it comes to repeater deliberate interference.

Again, the enforcement and prosecution of a valid ex parte order does not conflict
with the federal statutes regulating radio activity. As the Florida appellate court aptly
noted under similar circumstances, “In prosecuting [Respondent] the [trial court] was not
seeking to regulate the air waves, rather it was seeking to punish him for his criminal
conduct.” Menefee, 980 So.2d at 571. Respondent argues that the FCC’s prohibition
against “communications intended to facilitate a criminal act; . . . [or] obscene or
indecent words or language” restricts any state court from having jurisdiction to
prosecute such actions. See 47 C.F.R. § 97.113(a)(4). We disagree with this conclusory
assumption. Respondent was not found in criminal contempt for using “obscene or
indecent words” on amateur radio. Rather, he was found in contempt for simply
communicating with Petitioner, irrespective of the language he used. On this issue, we
rely on analysis in Menefee, 980 So.2d at 573–74. In Menefee, the Florida District Court
of Appeals stated, “there is nothing contained within the [Federal Communications] Act
or its implementing regulations that suggests that states may not take action to charge
a[n] [amateur] radio operator criminally for conduct that would constitute a crime.” Id. at
573.
For these reasons, we find that the trial court’s ex parte order is not preempted by
- 9 -
federal law. Therefore, the trial court had jurisdiction to find Respondent in criminal
contempt of court when Respondent violated the ex parte order by contacting Petitioner
on amateur radio.

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