Ohio blogger convicted of harassment for sending nude Shrek image to state senator

A jury in the US state of Ohio has found DJ Byrnes, owner of the political commentary blog The Rooster, guilty of telecommunications harassment. The case centered on a text message to Republican state Sen. Jerry Cirino that included an explicit image of the cartoon character Shrek. On Friday, a judge ordered Byrnes to pay a $200 fine, the Columbus Dispatch reported.

What happened

Byrnes sent the message in May, shortly after Cirino withdrew from a race for a seat in the state Senate. The image came with a text calling the senator "Young Mussolini" and referring to a "Patriots Caucus."

Cirino reported the messages to police, describing them as pornographic and harassing. In June, four state police officers arrested Byrnes at the Ohio statehouse. According to the reports, he was held in jail overnight even though he had posted bail.

The trial

Byrnes pleaded not guilty, arguing that the text was protected free speech. Before the trial, Cirino said he could not wait for the jury to see the image.

After the verdict, the senator said the case was not about free speech but about a harassment statute that he believed Byrnes had violated. Cirino added that the blogger is free to write whatever he wants on his blog, but that he does not want to be accosted in the Statehouse in the future, News 5 Cleveland reported.