Judge protects defendant's Web site
Man charged with possessing 1,000 kilograms of marijuana can keep his Web site.
Declan McCullagh Former Senior Writer
Declan McCullagh is the chief political correspondent for CNET. You can e-mail him or follow him on Twitter as declanm. Declan previously was a reporter for Time and the Washington bureau chief for Wired and wrote the Taking Liberties section and Other People's Money column for CBS News' Web site.
A federal judge has said a criminal defendant charged with possessing 1,000 kilograms of marijuana can keep his Web site. Federal prosecutors wanted U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson to order defendant Leon Carmichael to delete CarmichaelCase.com, which asks for information about informants the government allegedly used in the case.
In a pair of rulings last week, Thompson said that the prosecution's request amounted to unconstitutional prior restraint in violation of the First Amendment. The Web site is not a threat or harassment, Thompson said, and "the government has not made its case that the protective order it seeks is warranted."