Seattle Judge Rules That Law Enforcement Must Ignore Certain Crimes In The Name Of Free Speech

The ruling came in response to a lawsuit filed by Derek Tucson, Robin Snyder, Monsieree de Castro, and Erik Moya-Delgado, who was arrested in 2021 for writing “BLM” and anti-police expletives in chalk and charcoal on concrete walls that had been erected to protect SPD’s East Precinct from vandalism and rioters. Pechman issued an injunction stating that the city’s existing property damage laws can violate a person’s First and Fourteenth Amendment rights and are “overly vague and overboard.”

In response to the ruling, SPD released a statement on Wednesday stating that they cannot take action on damage to property under this law until further order of the Court. The statement also acknowledged the concerns of the community, businesses, and residents regarding property damage and pledged to work closely with the Mayor’s Office and City Attorney’s Office to assess the next steps with the Court.

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June 17, 2023

Seattle’s municipal code defines “property destruction” as a gross misdemeanor. It can be punished by up to 364 days in jail if “he or she… [w]rites, paints, or draws any inscription, figure, or mark of any type on any public or private building or other structure or any real or personal property owned by any other person.” However, Pechman ruled that the law can have people arrested for exercising their free speech rights under the guise of “preventing even temporary visual blight.”

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“On its face, the Ordinance sweeps so broadly that it criminalizes innocuous drawings (from a child’s drawing of a mermaid to pro-police messages written by the Seattle Police Foundation that can hardly be said to constitute ‘visual blight’ and which would naturally wash away in the next rain storm,” and that the law could enable police to arrest people for “attaching a streamer to someone else’s bicycle or writing a note of ‘hello’ on a classmate’s notebook without express permission,” Pechman added.

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Seattle City Attorney Ann Davison’s office also stated on Wednesday that they will not be filing any property destruction charges due to the order but are immediately filing a motion asking the judge to reconsider.

Mayor Bruce Harrell has attempted to focus on graffiti and pledged in 2022 to “increase enforcement of graffiti offenses, striking a balance with larger penalties for the most prolific taggers and expanded diversion options for low-level offenders.” However, Seattle has been plagued by graffiti and spiking crime. Pechman’s ruling has brought the issue of balancing free speech rights with the need to maintain law and order.

“Although the Ordinance also criminalizes ‘property destruction,’ it equally targets speech. As such, it has a close enough nexus to expression that it poses a real and substantial threat of censorship,” Pechman said.