This journalist was arrested, strip-searched and imprisoned for filming the police. Will he get justice?

Prosecutors in Texas last week dropped criminal proceedings against a journalist who was arrested, strip-searched and jailed in 2021 for filming police. But his lengthy legal battle is, in some ways, just beginning, and requires us to once again challenge the idea that real Journalists are entitled to different rights than the public.

That’s because Justin Pulliam, the man in question, is a citizen journalist. He is not employed by a media company. Rather, he publishes his reports on his YouTube channel. Corruption reportwhich, true to its name, is uncompromisingly skeptical of state power and supports transparency.

The Fort Bend County Sheriff’s Office (FBSCO) was reportedly angered by his audacity. In July 2021, Pulliam was ejected from a press conference by police because they claimed he was not qualified to be a member of the media, and in December of that year, he was arrested for filming police on a mental health call despite being positioned about 40 yards away from the interaction. Officer Taylor Rollins asked Pulliam to move even farther away, and he complied, although he continued to film the deputy as he spoke to other bystanders at the scene (none of whom were arrested).

That did not end well for Pulliam, who was charged with obstructing police work. (According to his ComplaintOfficer Ricky Rodriguez, who assisted in the arrest, told another officer at the jail that the ordeal would teach Pulliam a lesson for “messing with us.”) In April 2023, a jury was unable to reach a verdict in the case, with five jurors wanting an acquittal and one pushing for a conviction. It took law enforcement more than a year to decide not to pursue the case.

One wonders if the Fort Bend government is using resources wisely to support public safety when it doggedly pursues a case because someone filmed it. On a deeper level, though, it’s worth asking whether law enforcement would have brought the case to court at all if Pulliam had worked for an official media outlet. My guess is no.

It’s difficult to reconcile the two. Journalism, after all, is a profession that involves gathering information and communicating it to the public. That endeavor is not exclusive to people who work full-time at a news outlet, and the strength of the First Amendment should not depend on whether or not you’re on a media outlet’s payroll. Even if Pulliam didn’t consider himself a journalist – citizen or not – his right to film the government employees he pays with his taxes should remain intact. It certainly shouldn’t come at the expense of his freedom.

Whether he can argue his case before a jury in civil court has not yet been decided. Last June, Judge David Hittner of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas allowed Pulliam’s federal lawsuit to proceed but declined to grant the defendants immunity, the legal doctrine that protects state and local government officials from such lawsuits unless their alleged wrongdoing is already “clearly established.”

“The individual defendants cite no case law supporting their claim that an indictment barred a claim for violation of the First Amendment.” wrote Hittner. “In fact, based on the facts presented in the complaint, it appears that Pulliam was singled out and arrested for exercising his rights under the First Amendment.”

Pulliam is not out of the woods, though. Next he must convince the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit, which has been hearing a similar case in recent months: that of Priscilla Villarreal, the citizen journalist from Laredo, Texas, who was arrested by police in 2017 by invoking an obscure law that criminalizes obtaining nonpublic information when there is an “intent to obtain an advantage.” If that description sounds a lot like standard journalism—seeking out information that isn’t yet public—that’s because it is. But even though she’s been able to enlist some oddball companions in her defense, Villarreal hasn’t fared well in court.

Although her case is not identical to Pulliam’s, both raise very similar questions, particularly around the idea that a certain class of journalists should be given more rights than others. “Villarreal and others portray her as a martyr for journalism,” wrote Judge Edith Jones dismissed Villarreal’s lawsuit in her majority opinion and granted the police immunity. “This is inappropriate,” Jones said, because Villarreal, who publishes her reporting on her popular Facebook page, Lagordilocais not a “mainstream and legitimate media company.” Their freedom of speech suffers as a result.