In a case with First Amendment implications, an Alameda County Deputy District Attorney has told the mother of an Oakland murder suspect to take down her Myspace.com Web site. Laura Rangel says she’s entitled to post her opinions and documents that are public record, such as police reports. Amilcar Ford, the deputy D.A., says the site might influence potential jurors and, since Rangel will be a witness at her daughter’s second-degree murder trial, posting a Web site amounts to a witness attempting to influence other witnesses. Ford says photos on the site might be seen as threatening, such as one of Ford and his grandmother, a retired Alameda County judge. Rangel tells the Contra Costa Times that she will take down her site if instructed by a judge. A hearing in the dispute is set for Friday. The CoCo Times article quotes Golden Gate University Dean Peter Keane as saying the prosecutor doesn’t have much of a case. An ACLU attorney, Ann Brick, says the prosecutor is going too far. Rebecca Jeschke of the Electronic Fronteir Foundation says the issue is new, but probably won’t be for long.
Prosecutor wants to unplug mom's Web site
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