Criminal charge filed in libel case

The state Supreme Court upheld the law in 1991 but said its provisions would not apply to constitutionally protected political speech. In 2006, the ACLU successfully blocked the Greeley Police Department from using the statute to pursue a blogger who posted material critical of a professor at the University of Northern Colorado. The ACLU argued that prosecution would violate the 1st Amendment.

Police and court records say Weichel's postings were purely personal.

Weichel's former girlfriend contacted police in Loveland last December about anonymous postings that referred to her sometimes by her nickname and other times by her full name.

A police report said the postings alleged that she abused her child and concealed it from social workers, and that she committed welfare fraud and worked for a "crooked" Fort Collins lawyer whom she sexually serviced. The postings were laced with crude references to her body.

The woman told police that people who knew her read them and tried to defend her in online comments.

Police traced the postings to a computer that Weichel had access to. In August, Loveland police questioned Weichel at his workplace.

"Weichel stated he was 'just venting,' " according to an affidavit for an arrest warrant.

Abrahamson's office filed two criminal libel charges against Weichel on Oct. 21. The state's libel law carries a maximum sentence of 18 months in jail.

As news of the prosecution circulated, it prompted critics of the law to call for a revision. David Lane, a 1st Amendment lawyer in Denver, said prosecutors almost never used the law because they knew it could easily be stricken by a federal court.

"It's shocking the statute exists," Lane said, "and that someone's even using it is more shocking."

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nicholas.riccardi@latimes.com