A Long Island, N.Y., politician charged with tax evasion cannot prevent media outlets from running photographs of him in handcuffs, says a federal judge’s ruling reported by the New York Law Journal. Judge Arthur Spatt denied a motion by Nassau County Democratic legislator Roger Corbin to enjoin Newsday and cable channel News 12 from running pictures of him taken during a “perp walk” after his May 6 arrest.
Spatt said he was “troubled by [the] repeated use” of Corbin’s photograph with his hands handcuffed behind his back, when there were “numerous photographs” of him available from his 14 years as a lawmaker. The judge said he lacked the authority to “censor the press in this matter and cannot instruct the press as to what images are newsworthy.” Newsday and News 12 argued that the defendant’s requests “plainly violate the First Amendment and should be promptly rejected.”