An Ohio man who went on Facebook to post an angry message about his soon-to-be ex-wife was deemed to have broken a court order and as a result was recently hauled before a Cincinnati judge.
By way of punishment, Mark Byron was offered a straight choice by the court. He could either spend 60 days in jail, or apologize to his wife on his Facebook page. The apology would have to stay on his page for 30 days, judge Paul Meyers said. He chose the latter.
Earlier, in June 2011, Byron had been found guilty of civil domestic violence against his estranged wife, Elizabeth. As a result, a temporary protection order against Mr. Byron was issued by the court.
Byron’s bitter message, posted on Facebook in November, read: “If you are an evil, vindictive woman who wants to ruin your husband’s life and take your son’s father away from him completely — all you need to do is say you’re scared of your husband or domestic partner and they’ll take him away!”
He had apparently blocked his wife from seeing the rant, but she heard about it from others, causing her to complain that it violated the court protection order. Court papers described the message as “mentally abusive, harassing and annoying” and called Byron in.
Byron’s apology, posted earlier this month, is directed not only towards his wife, but also his Facebook friends. “I hereby apologize to Elizabeth for casting her in an unfavorable light by suggesting that she withheld (my son) from me,” it reads, adding, “I further apologize to all my Facebook friends for attempting to mislead them into thinking that Elizabeth was in any manner preventing me from spending time with (my son), which caused several of my Facebook Friends to respond with angry, venomous, and inflammatory comments of their own.” The apology must remain on his Facebook page until the middle of March.
In a recent interview with a local news show, Byron explained his actions. “I just went on Facebook to vent,” he said. “I kind of likened it to having a drink with a friend at a bar and telling them about things.”
The court didn’t see it in such matter-of-fact terms and judged that Byron had broken the protection order, before offering him a choice of punishment. If you’d been in Byron’s shoes, would you have objected to being told by a court to post an apology on your Facebook page and instead happily gone to the slammer for 60 days? Or do you think the judge happens to be someone who has clearly embraced the Internet age and should be commended for his ‘jail or Facebook apology’ offer?
[via LA Times] [Image: vyskoczilova / Shutterstock]
I can’t believe anyone can support an idiotic ruling like this one. I guarantee you that the “judge” was either female or a beta-male: a guy makes a heartfelt and straightforward comment on a private facebook webpage (and what was his ex doing trying to pry into his personal affairs, anyways?) – no cussing, no vulgarity, just a hurt father saying something far less vehement or vituperative than what most women say about men – and now he finds himself having to choose between a forced, insincere apology or jail? In our gynocracy, anything critical of a woman is automatically threatening and hostile; one of the great guiding foci of the feminazi movement has been to “de-fang” men by making them fearful of offering their unvarnished view about things – relationships, politics, you name it. He threatened no one; cursed at no one; and his message was aimed at only a few close friends and associates – not at the world at large. You’d have to be as stupid as the fooking blonde empty vessel, Sunnyways, to think this is a sane ruling. Clearly, the peroxide has seeped into her cerebral cortex.
It was something we wrote on his Facebook not hers. What happened to freedom of speech? I don’t agree with bashing anyone on Facebook but I do believe in freedom to say whatever you want as long as it doesn’t involve harming someone physically.
I think I would’ve just apologized too. Apology or jail time? Hmm…I’ll give an apology thank you.
Just swallow your pride and apologize! Yea first ruling of it’s kind and I think it’s a cool one.
and will you still feel that way when someone does something similar to you on facebook (e.g.: accuses you of slander for a throw-away comment?)
You are one dumb, thoughtless cunt
Most of the relationships are made/broken on the internet now a days. I am actually surprised that the Judge would come up with this option. He’s totally cool!