A Peoria man who repeatedly parodied the city’s mayor on Twitter, then saw police raid his home in an unsuccessful attempt to bring criminal charges against him, has agreed to settle his lawsuit against the city, his lawyers and the city announced Wednesday.
Peoria will pay Jon Daniel $125,000 in damages and attorney’s fees to settle the lawsuit brought in June 2014, according to the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois, whose lawyers represented Daniel.
“I’m really satisfied with the outcome in this case,” Daniel said in a statement. “I always thought the Twitter account was a joke for me and my friends. I never dreamed that it would result in my home being raided and me being placed under arrest.”
Daniel created @peoriamayor using third-term Mayor Jim Ardis’ official portrait in March 2014, following the theme of the numerous satirical accounts poking fun at celebrities, politicians and others. In the postings, Daniel portrayed “Ardis” as a crude politician whose social life involved drugs, alcohol and prostitutes.
“Im bout to climb the civic center and do some lines on the roof who’s in,” one tweet read.
But Ardis said Daniel essentially stole his likeness and sullied his reputation with the tweets. Ardis also argued that users would not have been able to tell that the account was a joke.
Documents obtained by the Tribune last year showed that Peoria’s top officials wanted to prosecute Daniel, even as some doubted a crime had been committed. Citing a state law that makes it a misdemeanor to falsely identify oneself as a public official, the police subpoenaed Twitter and Comcast for Daniel’s information and raided his home April 15. Officers seized four computers, four iPhones, an iPad and two Xboxes during the investigation.
Daniel was briefly taken into custody after the raid before being released. He was never charged with a crime.
The actions against Daniel unleashed a torrent of negative backlash directed at Ardis and the police, a controversy dubbed Twittergate by many in the central Illinois community. Daniel’s lawsuit against Ardis and several city officials accused them of violating his First and Fourth amendment rights. Legal experts said political satire is a protected right of free speech.
The settlement also requires Peoria to issue a directive to its Police Department saying the law prohibiting the impersonation of a public official — the same statute the city tried to use against Daniel — does not apply to satire.
“Hurt feelings do not free government from the responsibility of respecting Mr. Daniel’s freedom of speech and freedom from being arrested for that speech,” ACLU attorney Karen Sheley said. “The directive makes it clear that parody should never be the predicate for a criminal investigation and that the action against Mr. Daniel should never be repeated again.”
Peoria officials defended their actions against Daniel throughout the controversy, and struck a defiant tone in a statement about the agreement, noting that the city did not admit any wrongdoing.
“In fact, we believe strongly that the City would have ultimately won the case, but the reality is it would have cost the City several times the amount of the settlement in order to win in Court, and as a result, settling early was the soundest fiscal strategy for the taxpayers,” the statement said.
Peoria’s City Council is expected to approve the deal at its regular meeting Tuesday. And @peoriamayor still is a suspended account on Twitter.
Twitter @rhodes_dawn
