The Associated Press
FARMINGTON, N.M.- A man was fined $114 and ordered to perform community service after a rare conviction for criminal libel stemming from a traffic stop that led to a melee with police.
Juan Mata was convicted of criminal libel, stalking and harassment, and ordered to pay $114 in court costs and perform 50 hours of community service.
The charges centered on whether Mata had a constitutional right to circulate a petition asking the Farmington Police Department to investigate officer Mike Briseno and to picket the department with signs calling Briseno a liar.
The harassment and stalking charges stemmed from the petition and picketing, while the libel charge referred to a letter written by a former lawyer for Mata that accused Briseno of 11 felonies. Mata did not sign the letter by his previous attorney, Ron Adamson.
The criminal libel statute provides penalties including jail time for making false or malicious statements about another person.
Prosecutors argued that an attorney acts on behalf of the client, making Mata responsible for the letter.
Mata’s attorney, Dennis Montoya, said he knew of no precedent to support the idea that “if my attorneys says something in writing ... I am responsible.”
He argued that as a public official, Briseno could not be libeled under the law. He also said statements Mata made were “demonstrably true.”
Mata filed a federal civil rights lawsuit last November and has said his problems with police began in November 2002, after he and Briseno exchanged words during a traffic stop.
Mata claims the officer went to his mother’s house, where he told Mata’s brother to turn down his music and tried to write him a ticket.
The matter escalated when Mata’s 60-year-old mother and the brother’s 12-year-old son intervened. They said they were trying to pull officers off Mata’s brother, but also contended police assaulted them. When Juan Mata tried to help, he was sprayed with Mace.
Briseno’s report said he sprayed Juan Mata because Mata came at him “screaming and flailing his arms as if he was going to attack us.”