Social media posts calling for a protest after Bobby George’s recent plea deal with prosecutors, in which more serious charges including rape, kidnapping and attempted murder were not pursued in exchange for a guilty plea on a single count of attempted strangulation, made clear that the creators thought the criminal justice system did not deliver justice in the case.
Set to the tune of M37’s “Crooks N Criminals,” the post, shared by organizers Ohio 50501 and four other Instagram accounts, opined that George was “avoiding trial on more serious charges.” Followers were urged to “rally against” the business owner and “Cleveland’s corruption” the following Saturday.
“The county prosecutor allowed this to [sic] happened,” the post read, with “#NOWHERE” and “Fuck Bobby George” in bold lettering. “Fight this rapist. Boycott his business.”
George, who denied that he did anything wrong in a statement following the plea deal and who called the whole affair “a politically motivated prosecution,” took notice. In early November, he hired a Columbus-based lawyer, Michael Hunter, to send cease and desist letters to the posters. It included the threat of further legal action, alleging that they had defamed George.
“Mr. George will be forced to initiate litigation to defend his reputation, expose the falsity of the statements you have published and promoted if you do not immediately comply with the requirements set forth herein,” Hunter wrote in the Nov. 6 letter to Ohio 50501.
On Wednesday, Case Western Reserve University’s First Amendment Clinic announced it was representing Ohio 50501 and whomever else may be the target of George and Hunter’s legal communications regarding the posts.
Anyone is free to lambast George and the plea deal under a new Ohio law enacted in January, the Uniform Public Expression Protection Act, designed to block “strategic lawsuits against public participation”—known as SLAPP—and protect such critiques as free speech.
Just like the speech that gave George free reign in his sentencing statement to criticize “far-left” prosecutors.
“Mr. George isn’t the only one with constitutional rights,” Andrew Geronimo, a First Amendment attorney and head of the clinic, wrote Hunter in a letter sent Wednesday morning.
“Our clients also have corresponding constitutional rights to comment about how the criminal justice system treats him,” he wrote, “especially as George is a prominent public figure.”
“The idea that there could ever be liability for the statement ‘FUCK BOBBY GEORGE’ is risible,” Geronimo wrote, adding, it is “not in the universe of potentially actionable statements.”
As for the contention that calling George a “predator” and “rapist,” Geronimo argued: ““The arrest warrant for your client, which was widely covered in the news, included factual allegations of attempted murder and rape that the government deemed sufficient to meet the standard on which it was issued, and which the prosecutor reportedly believed were sufficient to take to trial.”
And: “Your client cannot have his cake and eat it, too: whatever went into his decision to plead guilty to a lesser offense to resolve more serious allegations does not preclude someone from voicing their opinion that he committed the publicly reported conduct alleged in support of the arrest warrant, notwithstanding your client’s agreement to resolve the charges with the government.”
No lawsuits have yet been filed against Ohio 50501, or any of their Instagram co-posters, as of Wednesday, Geronimo said.
Scene reached out to George for comment on the Nov. 6 letter, but he did not respond as of Wednesday evening. Hunter himself declined to comment.
Following a year of radio silence after George was arrested, he was charged via information with a single count of attempted strangulation in a deal with Jane Hanlin, a visiting prosecutor appointed by O’Malley after he recused his office due to campaign contributions from the George family. George was sentenced to five years of probation and will be, as Hanlin noted in interviews with press, a convicted felon “for life.”
George, in his sentencing statement, painted himself as the target of a 14-month-long, politically-motivated campaign to ruin his reputation.
“President Trump was targeted by his political enemies who had prosecutorial power, and so was I,” George wrote. “He was vindicated, and I will be, too.”
In a victim statement, read aloud in court, the woman involved colored him differently — as a lover and boss who sought complete control of “almost every aspect of my life,” she said. CCTV cameras at work were carefully monitored; a tracker was installed on her car; she was forced to quit her job and ignore college so that she was free to “care for” George, she said..
“Abuse,” she wrote, that escalated to the point of violence.
“It began with yelling, calling me derogatory names, and breaking things. Not long after he began pushing, shoving, and pinning me to the ground, then knocking me in the mouth and pulling my hair,” she said. “Pulling my hair quickly escalated to whipping and slamming my head on objects. When I screamed for help, he would shove a towel down my throat.”
When friends tried to help her leave, “he would threaten to beat them or take their lives,” she wrote. “When he would get angry this way, he would completely lose control. His eyes would become dark and there was no pulling him out of it.”
Read the letter from George’s lawyer below.
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