A lawyer for one of the four Guilderland teens charged under Albany County’s cyberbullying law said he is concerned with the way the Guilderland Police Department publicized the arrests, although police said the incident was handled the same as the department would any other case.
There were no television cameras or much media attention at all when the four Guilderland teens were arraigned Thursday, Dec. 5, in Town Court, with each boy facing an unclassified misdemeanor charge of cyberbullying. All of the boys were arraigned privately in the judge’s chambers behind closed doors.
“The worst-case scenario in this case, the judge would have to give youthful offender status,” said Andrew Safranko, a lawyer representing one of the boys. “Because they are underage, the proceedings need to be closed and need to be done in chambers.”
The court records are sealed, with the outcomes of the cases likely to never be revealed, but the boys’ names have already been widely reported. At least one broadcast media outlet ran their photos, which appeared to have been from the yearbook.
Police never released mug shots of the four boys, because procedurally such photos are not taken with unclassified misdemeanor arrests.
Spotlight News has not printed the names of the four boys, because it is the paper’s policy to not release the names of anyone under the age of 18 charged with a misdemeanor. The four charged boys were 16 to 17 years old when the incident occurred.
Safranko said he has “a lot of concern” over the Guilderland Police Department releasing the names of the four boys.
“Frankly, I don’t think that the police should have made the arrest in the way that they did, or have these guys come in the way that they did,” Safranko said. “They know at some point this case is going to be completely sealed and done and over with.”
Capt. Curtis Cox, of the Guilderland police, said the name of anyone who is arrested and is at least 16 years old is releasable and a matter of public record.
“Now, the youthful offender status, where everything gets closed to the public, is an action of the court,” Cox said. “Until it reaches that point, the information is public information.”
Safranko pointed out that most misdemeanor arrests do not have a press conference announcing them, but Cox said the announcement was a necessity because of the magnitude of media attention the case had already received.
Cox said holding a press conference was the most expedient and fairest method to release the information.
“We have held press conferences before in other cases where we had high-profile or high media attentiveness,” Cox said. “It was getting a lot of media attention, and historically when we have done a standard press release involving something that has so much media attention, we are conducting five or six interviews all day long.”
Ultimately, Safranko said he believes the matter should have stayed internally at Guilderland Central School District. The four boys were suspended after the school conducted an investigation that determined they were involved in making an explicit rap song posted online detailing alleged sexual encounters of students.
“For whatever reason, the Guilderland Police Department wanted to drag these poor boys through a dog-and-pony show for no reason,” Safranko said. “With my particular client, he is already back at school and accepted responsibility for his action, which certainly was limited and believed the matter should have ended there. His action did not constitute a crime whatsoever.”
Safranko said his client was responsible for making the intro and outro to the song, which he described as not “overly offensive.”
Guilderland Superin-tendent of Schools Marie Wiles could not be reached before going to press on how many of the suspended students are back in school.
ACLU challenges law
There is also the possibility the state Court of Appeals could strike down the county’s cyberbullying law before the four boys cases are resolved.
There has only been one other arrest made under the law.
“We had initially challenged this law as unconstitutional, and right now we are going before the Court of Appeals to declare this thing unconstitutional,” said Melanie Trimble, director of the Capital Region Chapter of the New York Civil Liberties Union. “Any kid who says anything under this on (the) Internet could be charged.”
Albany County Executive Daniel McCoy said he is confident the court will uphold the law, with the county preparing for its defense in January.
“While the Internet can prove to be a useful tool and a crucial part of our everyday lives, there are those who hide behind the screen and engage in cyberbullying,” McCoy said in a statement. “This law sends the message that we will not tolerate this behavior. I am confident that the court will validate the law and our desire to protect people while online.”