Coeur d'Alene prosecutor: Racial slurs lobbed at UofU players was free speech

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah (KUTV) — An 18-year-old who reportedly admitted to shouting racist slurs at the University of Utah women's basketball team while left a Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, restaurant in March will not be charged.

The news came Monday from the city's chief deputy attorney, who released a charging decision document that outlined the investigation and the reasons why the suspect wouldn't face any legal consequences.

The document in full is included at the end of the article.

March 21 Incidents

The team was staying in Idaho for an NCAA championship game being held in nearby Spokane, Washington, just over 33 miles to the west. Four days ahead of the tournament, the team walked from their hotel to a nearby Coeur d'Alene restaurant for dinner. As they were arriving, the team reported being harassed by a group in a passing vehicle.

Team leadership said the people inside displayed a Confederate flag and accosted the student-athletes with racist epithets and lewd comments.

After dinner, the team alleged the same vehicle was outside the restaurant to do it again. This time, the silver car was joined by other vehicles, which were revving their engines as their occupants yelled at the players.

Women's head coach Lynn Roberts said the team felt so unsafe that they had to pack and move to a different hotel.

Idaho Leaders Respond

Coeur d'Alene Mayor Jim Hammond,CDAPD Chief Lee White and other members of the Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations held a press conference in the days after news of the event made its way into the media.

"On behalf of the city and all of its communities, I strongly condemn the appalling treatment of the female college athletes who were visiting Coeur d'Alene," Hammond said.

During the conference, the task force alleged the harassment continued even after the team left the restaurant, with the U women being followed back to their hotel by the perpetrators.

Task force members made it clear that their information came from a "reliable third-party source" and not from police.

Idaho Gov. Brad Little issued his own statement, emphasizing the state's values and thanking residents for standing against "disgusting incidents" like the one on March 21.

The governor's statement in full is included at the end of the article.

Evidence Corroborates Reports

Detectives with Coeur d'Alene Police Department were able to obtain recordings that corroborated a portion of the women's claims - but not all of them.

In an April 9 statement, CDAPD said they "identified an audio recording where the use of a racial slur was clearly audible," and that it could be heard being shouted "more than once."

"We're working to determine the context and conduct associated with its use to determine if it is a violation of the law," according to the statement.

White said any suspects identified and arrested could potentially be facing state charges for malicious harassment and disorderly conduct, but added that any charges will depend on the facts gathered during the investigation.

Detectives were able to identify a group of people who were responsible for one of the instances of the racist language, though the prosecutor in a later report lamented that University of Utah leaders hadn't immediately filed a police report.

According to the statement, the events transpired between approximately 5:30 - 7:15 p.m., though police weren't contacted until just before 10 p.m.

"Based on that report, CDA Police Department began an exhaustive three-week investigation, during which they interviewed nearly two-dozen witnesses and meticulously poured over hours of surveillance video," according to the charging decision.

Prosecutor Decides Not To File Charges

On May 6, Coeur d'Alene Deputy Chief Attorney Ryan Hunter released the city's charging decision, which identified an individual who admitted to the allegations.

The CDA Police Department’s subsequent exhaustive investigation determined the identities of the four occupants of the silver passenger car and, ultimately, confirmed that one of the individuals in that vehicle ... an 18-year-old student at Post Falls High School, made the offensive statement containing the racial slur, to which he subsequently confessed during interviews with law enforcement. The investigation also established that (the student) had shouted the N-word as the vehicle passed in front of Crafted just before saying it again as part of the obscene statement directed at members of the U of U contingent. (the student) subsequently tried to retract part of his confession and claimed he had just shouted the N-word while another occupant of the vehicle ... had made the obscene statement that also contained the N-word. However, there is very little evidence to support that post-hoc claim, while there is substantial evidence corroborating his original admission.

The report noted that, while the team's claims of the second incident were corroborated, there wasn't any evidence as of Monday to prove it a similar event happened as they were entering the restaurant as well.

And while credible eyewitnesses all agreed that the racist language was shouted, their reports on the rest of the night's events varied widely.

As such, authorities were unable to connect the 18-year-old's involvement with the first reported incident.

Additionally, detectives were not able to find any audio or video evidence of the team's claim that the gathered vehicles were revving their engines in a threatening manner.

Idaho Laws

The 18-year-old was referred to the city attorney's office to review whether he violated Idaho's laws on disturbing the peace and Coeur d'Alene's code on disorderly conduct. Hunter also reviewed whether the individual's admitted actions equated to malicious harassment.

Here are those rules, as they appear in government documents:

DISTURBING THE PEACE

"Every person who maliciously and willfully disturbs the peace or quiet of any neighborhood, family or person, by loud or unusual noise, or by tumultuous or offensive conduct, or by threatening, traducing, quarreling, challenging to fight or fighting, or fires any gun or pistol, or uses any vulgar, profane or indecent language within the presence or hearing of children, in a loud and boisterous manner, is guilty of a misdemeanor."

DISORDERLY CONDUCT

"It shall be unlawful for any person to knowingly engage in disorderly conduct within the city limits of the City of Coeur d'Alene. Every person is guilty of disorderly conduct when that person willfully:

• (a) Engages in violent, tumultuous or offensive conduct, or by threatening, traducing, quarreling, or challenging to fight another person, or fights with another person in a public place; or
• (b) makes noise that is unreasonable, considering the nature of the actor's conduct, location, time of day or night, and other factors that would govern the conduct of a reasonably prudent person under the circumstances; or
• (c) engages in violent, noisy or riotous behavior that would be frightening or offensive to a reasonable person who might be expected to be in the vicinity."

MALICIOUS HARASSMENT

"It shall be unlawful for any person, maliciously and with the specific intent to intimidate or harass another person because of that person’s race, color, religion, ancestry, or national origin, to:

• (a) Cause physical injury to another person; or
• (b) Damage, destroy, or deface any real or personal property of another person; or
• (c) Threaten, by word or act, to do the acts prohibited if there is reasonable cause to believe that any of the acts described in subsections (a) and (b) of this section will occur.

Hunter reasoned none of the above state and municipal laws could be used due to the 18-year-old's First Amendment right and his right under the Idaho Constitution, whichguarantees "Every person may freely speak, write and publish on all subjects, being responsible for the abuse of that liberty."

According to Hunter's report, the 18-year-old's intention was comedy, not threats, which absolved him of any criminal acts under the malicious harassment rule.

"There is insufficient evidence that (the teen) acted with a specific intent to intimidate or harass any specific person; on the contrary, the sum of the evidence supports that Mr. Myers’s intent was to be funny," Hunter stated in the report. "To be clear, the statements of the other occupants of the vehicle and of Mr. Myers himself all support that he—as a white male—thought it would be funny to shout his willingness to (have sex) with a Black female despite his expressed hate for Black folks, which he made abundantly clear by deploying the N-word."

Similarly, the teen wasn't breaking laws according to the other codes due to the busy area of the city in which the incident occurred and lack of visual or audio evidence showing malicious intent.

"... Any attempt to prosecute (the man) for either Disturbing the Peace or Disorderly Conduct would inevitably rely on the content of what he said to establish either crime, which would clearly violate (the man's) free speech rights as contemplated under both the First Amendment to the United States Constitution and Art. I, sec. 9 of the Idaho Constitution," Hunter reported. "Moreover, prosecution under these circumstances would inevitably fail, whether through pretrial dismissal due to the clear free speech issues involved or acquittal due to exclusion of the content evidence upon which that prosecution would inevitably have to rely at trial."

The report didn't include information on whether the targeted students, who moved hotels due to the incident, unequivocally understood the teenager was attempting to be humorous.

"Abhorrently Racist and Misogynistic" Free Speech

In the document's penultimate paragraph, Hunter stated:

Our office shares in the outrage sparked by (the 18-year-old's) abhorrently racist and misogynistic statement, and we join in unequivocally condemning that statement and the use of a racial slur in this case, or in any circumstance. However, that cannot, under current law, form the basis for criminal prosecution in this case.

The final prosecutor's charging decision: "Prosecution declined due to insufficient evidence to establish probable cause as to every element of any of the potential offense(s) without reliance on First Amendment protected speech."

CHARGING DECISION DOCUMENT

CONTENT WARNING: The Complaint Review Charging Decision document contains involving racism and sexual harassment. Discretion is advised. The individual's name has been redacted due to no charges being filed.

IDAHO GOV. BRAD LITTLE RESPONSE

"Thank you to the Coeur d'Alene community for stepping up to reinforce that the city is a welcoming, safe place.

Idaho leaders and community members at all levels have been consistent and clear about our values - we fully reject racism in all its forms. There is no place for racism, hate, or bigotry in the great State of Idaho. We condemn bullies who seek to harass and silence others. I will continue the tradition of past Idaho governors in supporting our local leaders in their efforts to eradicate hate and bigotry from our communities.

Whenever disgusting incidents like these have occurred in our state, I have seen Idahoans come through every single time to stand up for our shared values - to show respect, love, and compassion for others. Idahoans are good people, and we must not allow the hateful, unacceptable actions of a few tarnish our state."

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