HOUSTON, TX—Yesterday afternoon, Judge George Hanks of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas handed a win to independent journalist Justin Pulliam after a trial last summer. The main issue was whether Fort Bend County Lieutenant Taylor Rollins violated the First Amendment when he arrested Pulliam in December 2021 as Pulliam filmed a welfare check for a mentally ill man. Judge Hanks ruled: “Pulliam’s arrest was motivated by Rollins’s hostility towards the content of Pulliam’s speech” and the arrest was in “retaliation for the exercise of his First Amendment rights of free speech as a citizen and journalist and to discourage this speech based on its content.”
The decision also confirmed an earlier decision that Sheriff Fagan and Fort Bend County violated Pulliam’s rights when the Sheriff kicked Pulliam out of a press conference in July 2021 on the ground that Pulliam was not real media. In addition to a forthcoming order protecting Pulliam’s rights in the future, the Court awarded approximately $75,000 in compensatory damages.
“I was one man with a camera filming the precise actions of the police,” said Pulliam who covers police activity and local politics on his YouTube Channel Corruption Report. “If the police have nothing to hide, it shouldn’t have been a big deal; however, they went to extreme lengths to stop my reporting.”
In December 2021, Pulliam was filming deputies at a welfare check. Lieutenant Taylor Rollins arrived and immediately told Pulliam to leave. Even though there were other civilians present who were not leaving, Rollins arrested Pulliam as he was walking away.
“Rollins’ recanted his false testimony only after my video was introduced in court,” said Pulliam, referring to the criminal trial against him in Fort Bend County, which resulted in a mistrial after 5 of the 6 jurors voted to acquit. “The necessity of the right to film the police is self-evident from the facts of my case: Without my own video showing exactly what happened, I would have been wrongly convicted, and the police would have escaped accountability.
“Today’s decision, which has implications for independent journalists and protest movements across the country, explains how to decide whether an arrest violates free speech rights,” said IJ attorney Christie Hebert. “Today’s victory makes clear that law enforcement can’t arrest you for vague crimes like interference with public duties as a pretext for silencing unpopular people and their views.”
Pulliam’s dash camera video captured Pulliam backing away while Rollins walked past other civilians who were closer to the scene.
“Today’s decision was a one-two punch for the First Amendment,” said IJ Senior Attorney Jeff Rowes. “Fort Bend County and Sheriff Fagan were held accountable for not treating Pulliam like a journalist and Rollins was held accountable for an unconstitutional arrest.”
In July 2021, Sheriff Eric Fagan ejected Pulliam from an open-air press conference at a public park. As Pulliam approached the press area, his video captured Fagan giving orders to a deputy. “If he don’t do it, arrest him, ’cause he’s not a part of the local media, so he have to go back,” said Fagan. Today’s ruling confirmed an earlier ruling against the Sheriff and County.
“People, not the government, get to choose the source of their news. More than 100,000 people have chosen Justin Pulliam,” said Rowes. “Justin stuck his neck out and fought back for years at great personal cost when local officials tried to silence him. But that is exactly what makes today’s victory so meaningful: after years of pressure, retaliation, and an effort to push him aside, Justin Pulliam and the First Amendment won.”