A grand jury has declined to indict a former Spurs announcer who garnered attention last year as one of the first to be charged under Texas' 2008 online harassment law.
Mike Lavender said his contract as an announcer at Spurs, Missions and Rampage games hasn't been renewed since his arrest in August. He estimated he's lost up to 40 percent of his business from his other job as a wedding disc jockey.
“You Google me and that's the first thing that comes up,” he said Tuesday, explaining he now hopes to restore his reputation. “I did lose a lot of clients because they were creeped out by the accusations.”
A Bexar County grand jury no-billed Lavender on Dec. 17, deciding not to charge him with online harassment-spoofing — which prosecutors said could have been punishable by up to 10 years in prison — or for the lesser offense of Class B misdemeanor harassment.
Lavender, 36, said his attorney never was notified and he didn't find out that the charge had been dropped until he called the court himself last week. He had been set to make a court appearance this week.
Lavender acknowledged to authorities last year that he opened a Twitter account under the name “SkanksInSA411” and began making accusations that a local television reporter was having an affair with a married man.
He used derogatory terms such “HOwrecker” to describe the woman, whom the San Antonio Express-News has declined to identify due to the sensitivity of the allegations.
In an e-mail, the reporter declined immediate comment.
After his arrest, prosecutors were given the task of deciding if the charge matched the provisions in House Bill 2003, which makes it illegal to communicate under a fake identity through social networking sites with intent to harm, defraud or intimidate another person.
The law was enacted in September 2008 but hadn't resulted in any local prosecutions.
Assistant District Attorney Cliff Herberg said Tuesday he was not privy to the grand jury's deliberations and doesn't know why Lavender was no-billed.
However, the arrest appeared to be “one of the more minor cases” among a handful of state and national examples of online harassment prosecutions, he said, explaining that the TV reporter was a public figure and there didn't appear to be any threats against her safety.
While a detective had to obtain a court order to trace the Twitter account to its owner, Lavender never pretended to be the reporter or anyone else, Herberg said. That left the grand jury to decide if he harmed the reporter. Typically, prosecutors see much clearer cases of harm, he said, adding that the definition of harassment is also very broad.
“Harassment is intent to harass, alarm or annoy, but at some point you get into free speech,” he said. “It's up to the grand jury.”
It was important, he said, for the grand jury to review the case to help set a community standard. More extreme cases will be prosecuted, he said.
The reporter declined comment late Tuesday. Her attorney, Andrea Tidwell, e-mailed a statement Wednesday that said "We found the grand jury's decision disheartening. My client was harassed and humiliated by a stranger, who knowingly made false accusations about her with an agenda to cause harm. He harmed her reputation and emotional well-being. It is unfortunate there is not any legal precedent for this new online harassment law in Bexar County."
In a statement issued through her attorney last summer, the reporter said she was “shocked and humiliated” by the comments, which she said were designed to destroy her credibility.
Lavender said he was happy about the dismissal but angry he's now the one with credibility issues.
He said he's considering civil action but declined to identify whom a lawsuit might be aimed at. And he has no apologies for the Twitter comments.
Lavender said he never directly contacted the reporter and doesn't know her personally, but just was repeating what he thought to be public information obtained from Facebook and other sources.
“When somebody says something that is true and they get arrested for it, someone has to answer for it,” he said. “I said all along that I did nothing that was alleged. I was really waiting for my day in court, and that day never came.”
Mike Lavender said his contract as an announcer at Spurs, Missions and Rampage games hasn't been renewed since his arrest in August. He estimated he's lost up to 40 percent of his business from his other job as a wedding disc jockey.
“You Google me and that's the first thing that comes up,” he said Tuesday, explaining he now hopes to restore his reputation. “I did lose a lot of clients because they were creeped out by the accusations.”
A Bexar County grand jury no-billed Lavender on Dec. 17, deciding not to charge him with online harassment-spoofing — which prosecutors said could have been punishable by up to 10 years in prison — or for the lesser offense of Class B misdemeanor harassment.
Lavender, 36, said his attorney never was notified and he didn't find out that the charge had been dropped until he called the court himself last week. He had been set to make a court appearance this week.
Lavender acknowledged to authorities last year that he opened a Twitter account under the name “SkanksInSA411” and began making accusations that a local television reporter was having an affair with a married man.
He used derogatory terms such “HOwrecker” to describe the woman, whom the San Antonio Express-News has declined to identify due to the sensitivity of the allegations.
In an e-mail, the reporter declined immediate comment.
After his arrest, prosecutors were given the task of deciding if the charge matched the provisions in House Bill 2003, which makes it illegal to communicate under a fake identity through social networking sites with intent to harm, defraud or intimidate another person.
The law was enacted in September 2008 but hadn't resulted in any local prosecutions.
Assistant District Attorney Cliff Herberg said Tuesday he was not privy to the grand jury's deliberations and doesn't know why Lavender was no-billed.
However, the arrest appeared to be “one of the more minor cases” among a handful of state and national examples of online harassment prosecutions, he said, explaining that the TV reporter was a public figure and there didn't appear to be any threats against her safety.
While a detective had to obtain a court order to trace the Twitter account to its owner, Lavender never pretended to be the reporter or anyone else, Herberg said. That left the grand jury to decide if he harmed the reporter. Typically, prosecutors see much clearer cases of harm, he said, adding that the definition of harassment is also very broad.
“Harassment is intent to harass, alarm or annoy, but at some point you get into free speech,” he said. “It's up to the grand jury.”
It was important, he said, for the grand jury to review the case to help set a community standard. More extreme cases will be prosecuted, he said.
The reporter declined comment late Tuesday. Her attorney, Andrea Tidwell, e-mailed a statement Wednesday that said "We found the grand jury's decision disheartening. My client was harassed and humiliated by a stranger, who knowingly made false accusations about her with an agenda to cause harm. He harmed her reputation and emotional well-being. It is unfortunate there is not any legal precedent for this new online harassment law in Bexar County."
In a statement issued through her attorney last summer, the reporter said she was “shocked and humiliated” by the comments, which she said were designed to destroy her credibility.
Lavender said he was happy about the dismissal but angry he's now the one with credibility issues.
He said he's considering civil action but declined to identify whom a lawsuit might be aimed at. And he has no apologies for the Twitter comments.
Lavender said he never directly contacted the reporter and doesn't know her personally, but just was repeating what he thought to be public information obtained from Facebook and other sources.
“When somebody says something that is true and they get arrested for it, someone has to answer for it,” he said. “I said all along that I did nothing that was alleged. I was really waiting for my day in court, and that day never came.”