# State v. Ellison

> Ohio Court of Appeals · October 10, 2008 · 178 Ohio App. 3d 734

URL: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/3768995

## Case

- **Full name:** The STATE of Ohio, Appellee, v. ELLISON, Appellant
- **Court:** Ohio Court of Appeals
- **Decided:** October 10, 2008
- **Citations:** 178 Ohio App. 3d 734; 2008 Ohio 5282; 900 N.E.2d 228
- **Precedential status:** Published
- **Opinion:** Concurrence by Painter
- **Judges:** Cunningham, Hildebrandt, Painter
- **Cited by:** 29 later opinions in the Frix Law Library

## Citator (automated)

- No negative treatment found by the automated citator. That is not the same as a confirmation that the case is good law; read the citing cases.
- Full citator and citing cases: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/3768995

## How later opinions describe it (automated extraction)

- finding that a post on the social media website MySpace is a telecommunication

## Opinion text

Painter, Judge,
concurring.
{¶ 19} It is a scary thought that someone could go to jail for posting a comment on the Internet. If so, we could not build jails fast enough.
{¶ 20} The statute on telecommunications harassment is the successor to the former telephone-harassment law. It is designed to prohibit harassing or threatening calls. Of course the calls may now be made over a traditional phone line, a cellular phone, or the Internet. But posting an annoying — but nonthreatening — comment on a website is not a crime under this statute. It might well be a civil wrong, but it is not jailable. The First Amendment would not allow
*739
punishment for making a nonthreatening comment on the Internet, just as it would not for writing a newspaper article, posting a sign, or speaking on the radio.

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Source: Frix Law Library, https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/3768995. Public record. Not legal advice.