This is Carol, Roger's wife. Over the past several days, we have written about some of the more interesting articles to appear in the media on the Legal Schnauzer first amendment case. One such article appeared in ThinkProgress. The story was written by Nicole Flatow and was featured on the website Oct. 30--one week after Roger Shuler's severe beating and false arrest.
Per the ThinkProgress website, Nicole Flatow is the Deputy Editor of ThinkProgress Justice. Previously, she was Associate Director of Communications for the American Constitution Society. Nicole has also worked for several legal and general circulation newspapers, including The Daily Record and The New York Law Journal, and was a legal fellow at Bread for the City, where she represented low-income D.C. residents in housing and public benefits matters. She received her J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law, and her B.A. in Philosophy, Politics and Law from Binghamton University, where she was editor in chief of her campus newspaper.
The article was very good, however, there was one incorrect statement. And it has, unfortunately, been repeated in several articles about the first amendment case.
"Riley sued Shuler and his wife, Carol Shuler, last year for alleged defamation."The above statement is simply not true and gives the mistaken impression that this harassment lawsuit had been ongoing for some time and thus, had been given a chance to be properly litigated. Nothing could be further from the truth. Actually, the bogus traffic stop where improper service was attempted took place on Sept 29, 2013. And then, Roger was beaten and unlawfully arrested inside our garage on Oct 23, 2013. That is far less than one month later. Hardly adequate time for any proper litigation of the facts and the law.
Typically civil lawsuits are served and a person will have 30 days in which to respond and then the case proceeds from there in an orderly and legal fashion. In this case, Roger Shuler was assaulted and thrown in jail in a mere 3 weeks time. How about that for a railroad job and outrageous miscarriage of justice?
Here is the link to the ThinkProgress article by Ms. Flatow:Alabama Blogger Arrested, Jailed for Writing About Former Governor's Son