Police Chief in Sniper Case Sues for Right to Tell Story
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GREENBELT, Md. — The police chief who helped lead the task force of investigators during last autumn’s Washington-area sniper shootings filed suit Wednesday to win the right to tell his story in a book.
Lawyers for Montgomery County, Md., Police Chief Charles A. Moose sought a federal court injunction barring the county Ethics Commission from taking action against him for writing about the events surrounding the shootings.
The ethics panel contends that participation in book or movie projects would allow Moose to profit from the prestige of his office and possibly compromise the prosecutions.
The lawsuit charges that Moose is being deprived of his constitutional right of free speech.
“Any attempt to sanction, prosecute or take disciplinary action against Chief Moose based upon him writing or publishing a book or working on a screenplay would violate the 1st Amendment,” Ron A. Karp, head of Moose’s legal team, said Wednesday.
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