Changes

In 1998, Deputies from the St. Mary's Sheriff's Department attempted to purchase all copies of the Election Day 1998 issue of the The newspaper St. Maryand it's Today. The issue contained a front-page article titled "Fritz Guilty of Rape." St. Mary's County State's Attorney Richard Fritz was running for election. publisher, Mr. Rossignol filed a lawsuit in 1999 alleging violations of civil rights and freedom of speech. Defendants included State's Attorney Richard Fritz, Former Sheriff Richard Voorhar, and several Sheriff's Deputies. In April 2005, the county's insurance trust agreed to settle the suit and pay $425,000. Richard Fritz was to pay $10,000 in addition to that amount. The case was originally heard in the United States District Court have achieved national fame for what has become known as the District of Maryland, at Greenbelt (Rossignol vNewspaper Caper. Voorhaar, 199 F. Supp. 2d 279, 286-89 (2002)). The district court ruled in favor incident has become an important freedom of the defendants on the grounds that they had not acted under the color of state law. The speech case was then appealed in federal court. The court decision from the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Cicuit is located at http://images.somd.com/docs/Rossignol_v_Voorhaar_021326.P.pdf. It contains a pertinent details of the case and is a worthwhile read. More info: *http://stmarystoday.com/officials_pay_to_settle_lawsuit_.htm*http://somd.com/news/headlines/articles/1872.shtml*http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A32753-2005Apr6.html