PASSAGE OF THE DAY: Her mother, Victoria Schrader, also has a free speech case against Sunday and the attorney general, a part of which reached a U.S. Third Circuit Court of Appeals panel in Philadelphia on Monday. The two sides argued over a lower court’s injunction that blocks the D.A. and the attorney general from charging Schrader if she shares child welfare case records related to Dante that were deemed confidential under state law. Sarah Mullinix originally posted the documents to Facebook in 2020, and for that, she was charged with a misdemeanor count of unauthorized release of information under the state’s Child Protective Services Law. Though the charge was later dropped, it led to the tip-off of the federal suits by the fall of 2021. Both Sarah Mullinix and Schrader argued the state law infringed on their First Amendment rights. A federal district court judge granted the injunction in Schrader’s case last May. “There’s an ongoing desire for her to be able to talk about her grandson and his tragic death,” Schrader’s attorney, Aaron Martin, told the three-judge panel."
STORY: "Free speech suit over Dante Mullinix case goes to federal appeals court," by Reporter Aimee Ambrose, published by The York Dispatch, on January 24, 2023.
GIST: 'Nearly one month ago, a York County jury found Tyree Bowie not guilty of murder in the 2018 death of 2-year-old Dante Mullinix.
The verdict freed Bowie from custody for the first time in four years — but it also vindicated the outspoken stance by Dante’s aunt, Sarah Mullinix. For years, she'd insisted that Bowie was innocent and that the criminal justice system failed both Bowie and her nephew.
Her position — and her refusal to back down — eventually led to head-on legal clashes with York County District Attorney Dave Sunday.
Bowie's trial reached its conclusion at the end of 2022, but Sarah Mullinix's fight continues.
It has now reached federal court, where she has one free speech case against Sunday and the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office and another against Court of Common Pleas Judge Gregory Snyder.
Her mother, Victoria Schrader, also has a free speech case against Sunday and the attorney general, a part of which reached a U.S. Third Circuit Court of Appeals panel in Philadelphia on Monday.
The two sides argued over a lower court’s injunction that blocks the D.A. and the attorney general from charging Schrader if she shares child welfare case records related to Dante that were deemed confidential under state law.
Sarah Mullinix originally posted the documents to Facebook in 2020, and for that, she was charged with a misdemeanor count of unauthorized release of information under the state’s Child Protective Services Law.
Though the charge was later dropped, it led to the tip-off of the federal suits by the fall of 2021.
Both Sarah Mullinix and Schrader argued the state law infringed on their First Amendment rights. A federal district court judge granted the injunction in Schrader’s case last May.
“There’s an ongoing desire for her to be able to talk about her grandson and his tragic death,” Schrader’s attorney, Aaron Martin, told the three-judge panel.
Sunday appealed the injunction on a few points, including an argument that the case isn’t a constitutional issue, that the office is more concerned about the release of confidential information than blocking discussion of the topic.
“(Schrader) can publish whatever Sarah Mullinix has already posted, and we want to live to fight another day,” Sean Summers, the attorney representing the D.A.’s office, said Monday.
To understand the litigation, one has to understand the overall situation.
The now-44-year-old Bowie was charged with murder and child endangerment in September 2018, a few days after Dante died at Hershey Medical Center.
Investigators alleged Bowie savagely beat and brutalized the child while the two were alone together the night of Sept. 6. At the time, Bowie had agreed to babysit Dante while the boy’s mother, Leah Mullinix, went to York Hospital with a migraine.
Prosecutors pointed to Dante’s injuries, and an autopsy opinion that a traumatic brain injury killed him, to argue homicide, saying that the injuries had to have been caused that night.
Bowie and his attorney argued the death was accidental — a stance that ultimately convinced the jury.
SEE BREAKDOWN OF SOME OF THE ON-GOING INTERNATIONAL CASES (OUTSIDE OF THE CONTINENTAL USA) THAT I AM FOLLOWING ON THIS BLOG, AT THE LINK BELOW: HL:
https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/120008354894645705/4704913685758792985
FINAL WORD: (Applicable to all of our wrongful conviction cases): "Whenever there is a wrongful conviction, it exposes errors in our criminal legal system, and we hope that this case — and lessons from it — can prevent future injustices."
Lawyer Radha Natarajan:
Executive Director: New England Innocence Project;
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Christina Swarns: Executive Director: The Innocence Project;
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