The arrest of a 32-year-old mother of an Acadiana High student for posting a video on social media of two children fighting at the school is getting a lot of attention. Scott Police have charged Maegan Adkins-Barras with Unlawful Posting of Criminal Activity for Notoriety and Publicity, but attorney Franz Borghart says she had to be present at the fight to be charged with this little known law.
“There are some issues with Scott using that crime, as to whether or not she was a principle or an accessory to the school fight.”
Police have not said whether one of the two children from the video is related to Adkins-Barras.
Borghardt says the law itself is new, and has not had it’s constitutionality challenged. He says he has some serious questions as to whether or the charge violates 1st amendment rights to free speech.
“The constitutional right to take information and share it, the filming of a crime, has not traditionally been protected intellectual property, so to speak.”
The two students involved in the fight are also facing criminal charges.
The defense attorney says considering how much publicity the case has received, if the Scott Police Department is found to have acted in error, they could be facing a hefty lawsuit.
“Scott police could have issued a summons, they chose not to. So, they are blowing this up, and if this goes bad maybe she will have some rights against them. Especially if they were acting in such a way that they did not have probable cause to conduct the arrest in the first place.
Adkins-Barras bonded out of jail Wednesday.
