Those who believe in the constitutional right of freedom of speech and a strong justice system may certainly find cheer from the news that all the charges against the investigative journalist Darren Meade have been dismissed on May 27, 2015, with prejudice.

Darren M. Meade is a journalist known for advocating for human rights and those wrongly jailed. The indictment on him was frivolous because he, being a brave journalist, wanted the world to know that the murder case of Tracy Richter was botched by Ben Smith, the DA of Sac County. He merely reported his belief that it was a flawed criminal prosecution and the poor Tracy had become a victim of the inept handling of the case by Ben Smith.

Ben Smith who is friends with Tracy's ex husband, Michael Roberts, admitted on record that the indictment against Mr. Darren M. Meade was written by Michael Roberts. Tracy has been incarcerated for life without possibilities of parole for the alleged murder of an intruder who happened to be someone that looked up to Michael Roberts, her ex husband.

In July, 2014, Smith published a vague affidavit in which he claimed that Meade had written false and defamatory things about the witnesses in the murder trial of Tracy Richter. Smith later filed criminal charges also against Meade, strongly claiming that Meade’s writings and postings were criminal offenses. He went on to make further vague accusations that at least some of the writings and posts of Meade were false and defamatory.

Meade’s attorney filed a motion claiming inter alia that Smith had no evidence to support that whatever Meade wrote was false or defamatory and that what Meade wrote was protected by the U.S. Constitution as free speech. So, his writing could not be construed as crime. Meade’s attorney also requested the Court to disqualify Prosecutor Ben Smith from the case for a conflict of interest. Meade’s attorney submitted that Smith was retaliating against Meade with the power of his government office, because Meade, being an honest journalist, had made harsh professional criticisms against Smith in his online reporting.

On the day when Prosecutor Ben Smith had to face Meade’s defense attorney in the court, and present his evidence to show that Meade had made false statements, he gave up instead of fighting. Neither did he present any evidence to show that Meade did or write anything wrong nor did he identify the statements that were supposedly false. Instead, on the morning of the hearing, Ben Smith filed a motion for having the Court dismiss all the charges against Meade, with prejudice. This means Smith can not re-file the charges.

That this is a classic example of a vindictive and vexatious case that has been filed for silencing a journalist has been clearly established by the full dismissal of the case.

Tracy Richter should get another trial and it should be free of the inept Ben Smith. It should also be out of the jurisdiction of Iowa.

About Darren Mitchell Meade

Darren Mitchell Meade, an honest journalist, was vindictively charged by Ben Smith, the DA of Sac County, that he had written false and defamatory reports about the trial case of Tracy Richter. Now that Meade has been exonerated of the charges, it can be construed that justice and the right to freedom of speech still rule the roost in USA.

For Media Contact:
https://youtu.be/98WnZysDT9o
http://darrenmitchellmeade.org/