A Washington County woman claims that her ex-husband, a deputy sheriff, got her jailed for a critical Facebook post.
In a lawsuit filed last month in U.S. District Court, Anne King claims that she asked Deputy Corey King in January 2015 to pick up medicine for their sick child.
Her ex-husband refused, she said, claiming he was too busy.
According to her lawsuit, Anne King wrote that she was "feeling overwhelmed."
She wrote, "That moment when everyone in your house has the flu and you ask your kid's dad to get them (not me) more Motrin and Tylenol and he refuses."
According to her lawsuit, Corey King took out a criminal complaint against her for "criminal defamation."
She writes that the magistrate ruled that she had defamed King and ordered her jailed -- after threatening to ban her from Facebook.
She was in a jail cell for four hours and released on $1,000 bond, according to her lawsuit.
Later, she wrote, a state court judge threw out the charge, saying, "I don't even know why we're here."
She writes that she "lives in fear, worrying that at any time she could be arrested and jailed if someone does not like something she says."
The lawsuit accuses another Washington County officer, Trey Burgamy of cooperating in the illegal arrest.
And Washington County is also named as a defendant. King alleges that people are jailed regularly under the county's "criminal defamation" statute, in violation of their First Amendment rights.
Her lawsuit argues that Washington County failed to train officers properly in protecting citizens' civil rights.
On Tuesday, Sheriff Thomas Smith confirms that Anne King was arrested, but declined further comment on the case.
He referred further questions to county lawyer Michael Howard, who could not be reached for comment.
King vs. King by 13WMAZ on Scribd
