A Maryland journalist sued Gazette for defamation



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Court records show that Ramos pleaded guilty in July 2011 to criminal harassment in the county of Anne Arundel, where the Capital Gazette is based. A sentence of imprisonment of 90 days was suspended, and Ramos was placed under supervised surveillance during 18 months

Five days later, the Capital Gazette published a titled chronicle "Jarrod wants to be your friend". the victim of the harassment of Ramos. The article is no longer on the newspaper's website, but it has been reprinted in full in the court documents.

In the column, the woman, whose name was withheld, said that Ramos, a former classmate, She followed him on Facebook and then harassed her harshly by email for two years.

The column quoted her as saying that Ramos had urged her to commit suicide and that the bank where she was working was putting her in Ramos' email and a follow-up phone call in which he advised them to send it back. "

The column said that she was fired a few months later and" believes, but can not prove, it was because of Ramos. "

In July 2012, Ramos, himself a representative, sued the Capital Gazette, Eric Hartley, a former journalist who wrote the column, and Thomas Marquardt, the newspaper's editor at the 39, at the Prince George County County Court, alleging defamation, filed a longer complaint in October 2012, two months after the expiration of the alleged defamation limitation period, adding an allegation invasion of privacy

  Image: Jarrod Ramos
Jarrod Ramos was charged with five counts of first degree murder

The Circuit Judge dismissed the complaint in 2013 saying, "There is nothing in these complaints that proves that all that has been published about you is, in fact, fake, all this comes from a public record. Ramos appealed, and in September 2015, the court of appeal upheld the dismissal, writing that Ramos "never alleges that any basic element contained in the article about his conviction criminal. " Guilty plea is actually wrong. "

" The appellant was charged with an indictable offense, "wrote the court." The appellant committed a criminal act, the appellant pleaded guilty to having perpetrated a criminal act, the appellant was punished for his criminal act … He does not seem to have learned his lesson. "

Marquardt, the former publisher of the Capital Gazette, said at the Baltimore Sun that he was not surprised that Ramos was identified as suspect because he had started harassing the newspaper staff shortly after the publication of the 2011 article. [19659002] "I was seriously worried that he was physically threatening us with violence," Marquardt said Thursday. "I even told my wife," We have to worry, this guy could really hurt us. "

He added that he had called the police on Ramos in 2013, but nothing happened and that he was thinking of filing a restraining order, [1] 9659002] John Frenaye, the founder of Eye on Annapolis, a local news site, said Ramos dragged him from 2013 to 2015, repeatedly airing his grievances against the Capital Gazette. (Eye on Annapolis and the Capital Gazette are not affiliated.)

"Whenever it's that kind of troll, I ignore that," says Frenaye, who told NBC News that He did not remember having answered Ramos. having written about him.

"I remember watching that and thinking," Do I have to worry? "and thinking," No, his bug is with the capital and Eric. "He also had nicknames for them" – like "Slob" instead of Bob – Frenaye says, "That's it. a kind of backtracking, "said Frenaye. "I think he thought he had an audience, but I do not remember at all reporting on him."

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