{"id":1424481,"date":"2022-04-07T17:59:44","date_gmt":"2022-04-07T21:59:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1424481"},"modified":"2022-04-07T17:59:50","modified_gmt":"2022-04-07T21:59:50","slug":"dad-will-no-longer-face-criminal-charges-for-calling-leftist-activist-a-groomer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/dad-will-no-longer-face-criminal-charges-for-calling-leftist-activist-a-groomer\/","title":{"rendered":"Dad Will No Longer Face Criminal Charges For Calling Leftist Activist A Groomer"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">26<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fdad-will-no-longer-face-criminal-charges-for-calling-leftist-activist-a-groomer%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1424481&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>A father facing criminal prosecution for a tweet accusing a far-left education activist of \u201cgrooming\u201d got a reprieve Thursday when prosecutors told the judge they would not seek to move forward.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAfter a review of the facts and evidence for the four claims brought by Mr. [Jorge] Torrico, the Commonwealth does not believe there is sufficient evidence to prosecute the above-mentioned charges,\u201d Fairfax County, Virginia, assistant prosecutor Paul Vitale wrote in a court filing.<\/p>\n<p>The Daily Wire <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/dad-facing-criminal-charges-for-accusing-woke-activist-of-grooming\">reported<\/a> on Tuesday that Harry Jackson, a black dad with a child who attends a prestigious magnet school\u00a0who opposed far-left activists\u2019 quest to abolish the school\u2019s admissions exam in the name of \u201cequity,\u201d was facing four misdemeanors after Torrico, who wanted the test abolished, filed complaints against him.<\/p>\n<p>Jackson fired off a tweet accusing Torrico of \u201cgrooming\u201d behavior after Torrico attended an online PTSA meeting for the school, where he does not have a child, and interacted with a student leader.<\/p>\n<p>Criminal charges for defamation are exceedingly rare in America, where purported defamation is almost always a civil matter. The threat of criminal sanctions has been hanging over Jackson\u2019s head since a magistrate issued the first two of four criminal summons on September 22, 2021.<\/p>\n<p>On February 23, 2022, Jackson appeared in court and his lawyer, Maria Medvin, asked for the charges to be dismissed, calling them unconstitutional. The Fairfax prosecutor\u2019s office did not agree, instead asking for a postponement so it could \u201cinvestigate,\u201d Medvin <a href=\"https:\/\/medvinlaw.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/DEFENSE-OBJECTION-TO-NP.pdf\">said<\/a> in court documents.<\/p>\n<div class=\"image\"><\/div>\n<p>The top prosecutor in Fairfax is Steve Descano, a progressive who narrowly won his primary election with the help of funding from George Soros and who has pledged not to prosecute minor crimes that \u201cdisproportionately hurt people of color,\u201d and who routinely declines to pursue crimes he deems minor.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt appears that the Commonwealth\u2019s Attorney had done nothing during the five months that this case was pending and needed more time. The Commonwealth\u2019s continuance request was granted over Defendant\u2019s objection,\u201d Medvin wrote.<\/p>\n<p>On March 14, two more criminal summons were issued by a magistrate following more complaints from Torrico. Torrico noted that Jackson was suing the school system over the admissions change \u2014 in other words, calling attention to the authorities that he was on the opposite side of Fairfax Democrats in a matter of public controversy.<\/p>\n<p>On April 1, Medvin again filed to have the case thrown out as the unconstitutional persecution of protected speech.<\/p>\n<p>The summons said Jackson\u2019s words could break the law by being insults that \u201ctend to violence and breach of the peace,\u201d but there was nothing about calling an activist\u2019s behavior grooming that was a call for violence, she said. The summons invoked an obscure law enacted in 1950 making it illegal to impugn the chastity of a woman.<\/p>\n<p>In a filing Thursday, Descano\u2019s office moved to \u201cnolle pros\u201d the case, which means it is not seeking to move forward, but could re-file the charges. Medvin said that\u2019s not enough.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe government\u2019s request is a constitutional copout. By seeking to nolle prosequi instead of joining Defendant in his Motion to Dismiss and securing dismissal on constitutional grounds, the Commonwealth\u2019s Attorney\u2019s Office is opening the door to continued harassment of Harry Jackson and any other individual whom the Complainant and others like him find offensive,\u201d she wrote in a court filing in response. \u201cThe Defendant is seeking enforcement of his constitutional right to free speech. The Defendant is seeking dismissal with prejudice, a true closure in a criminal case.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Descano\u2019s office did not immediately return a request for comment from The Daily Wire.<\/p>\n<p>As The Daily Wire noted that last month, Descano\u2019s office granted a \u201cnolle pros\u201d to a woman who allegedly violently abused an infant. On March 18, the office told the judge it would not pursue the woman because \u201cthere are no ACA\u2019s [prosecutors] available for a four-day jury trial beginning on March 21, 2022.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Descano <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fox5dc.com\/news\/overwhelmed-and-untrained-a-fairfax-co-prosecutors-plea-for-help\">noted<\/a> that the nolle pros meant that the case could be brought again, and said it would be.<\/p>\n<p><em>Luke Rosiak is the author of the book\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Race-Bottom-Uncovering-Destroying-Education\/dp\/0063056720\/\">Race To the Bottom: Uncovering the Secret Forces Destroying American Public Education<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>The Daily Wire is building up its investigative reporting team to bring you the stories the legacy media refuse to cover. Support journalism that matters and join one of the fastest-growing conservative media companies in America by becoming a Daily Wire member\u00a0<a class=\"in-cell-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/subscribe\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">today<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A father facing criminal prosecution for a tweet accusing a far-left education activist of \u201cgrooming\u201d got a reprieve Thursday when prosecutors told the judge they would not seek to move<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":128,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1424481","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1424481","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/128"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1424481"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1424481\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1424481"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1424481"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1424481"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}