FAIR News: Standing Up for Civil Liberties this Holiday Season
Newsletter
Dear Friends of FAIR,
As our family prepares to celebrate the fifth night of Hanukkah, and other families are getting ready for Christmas, my thoughts are with Daniel Marquez—the young child in Cape Coral, Florida who FAIR has been standing up for ever since his wrongful arrest and incarceration earlier this year.
On May 28th, 2022, 10-year-old Daniel Marquez was arrested at his Florida home by the Lee County Sheriff’s Office, led by Carmine Marceno. Daniel was booked, handcuffed, perp-walked, and incarcerated in a juvenile detention facility without his parents for nearly two weeks without any charges having been filed.
Within three hours of the arrest, Marceno, who has a history of publicly accusing kids in this way, posted Daniel’s name, mugshot, and a perp walk video on the department’s Facebook page.
Marceno justified his arrest and treatment of Daniel based on private text messages Daniel had sent to his friend. However, based on an audio recording obtained from the Lee County Sheriff’s Office, it was clear that the deputies who arrested Daniel knew that his text messages, which started with the absurd claim that he had “scammed” $1,000,000,000,000 (a trillion dollars) from his friend, were intended as a joke.
Earlier this afternoon, a reporter for WINK News, a local television station in Fort Meyers, Florida, reported on the case:
In a Lee County Sheriffs Office recording obtained exclusively by WINK News, you can hear detectives ask about the texts and react to Daniel’s explanation before arresting him.
Daniel: (returns with phone and reads) “I scammed my friend Jacob; it was just a fake (inaudible)… ”
Dereck: “You’re fine.”
Detective Mackereth: “I mean, you can hold it, but.. Wow, for a lot of money.”
Daniel: “Yeah, it was just a joke.”
(Detective laughs): “So there’s a photo of a bunch of cash. Is that your thumb?”
Daniel: “No.”
Detective Mackereth: “Or just a picture from the internet.”
Daniel: “It’s just a picture. You can see here – the search?”
Several days after arresting Daniel, Marceno’s office posted a video on TikTok that included doctored and manipulated versions of Daniel’s text messages, set to AC/DC’s Shoot to Thrill. Marceno appeared on dozens of media outlets, and made the false claim that Daniel had threatened to commit a mass shooting. It took weeks for Daniel’s father to get his son released from juvenile detention.
Daniel was in fifth grade, an honor roll student, and a Boy Scout with no history of behavioral problems. Up until his arrest, Daniel enjoyed the anonymity and privacy that our justice system typically protects in the interest of children. Now, his name and image have been circulated throughout the internet, along with patently false accusations against him. We are confident that justice will prevail, and are providing legal and other support to Daniel and his family, but those printed words and viral images will follow him forever.
This case goes far beyond the excessive behavior on the part of Marceno, and even the irreparable harm done to Daniel and his family. If a child can be arrested at the whim of a local politician, locked up, and prosecuted—for an obvious attempt at humor—then our own rights are also at risk.
On July 14th, FAIR formally requested that the United States Department of Justice open an investigation into the Sheriff’s Office of Lee County, Florida for violating Daniel’s civil rights. FAIR has retained an attorney to defend Daniel, and we are standing behind the Marquez family. This case is an example of how social media can be used to destroy a person’s reputation, and an attempt to criminalize an obvious attempt at humor by a 10-year-old child.
In the words of Alex Saiz, the civil rights attorney FAIR hired to represent the Marquez family:
Saiz says the charge (FL 836.10) filed against Daniel —written or electronic threat to kill, do bodily injury, or conduct a mass shooting or an act of terrorism — doesn’t fit.
“It has to be a reasonableness standard. And this is one of the reasons why we do these things, not in the media, but we do them in a court of law. What is that comment? What did he text? Not what would you have liked him to text. Not what you think he said. What did he actually say? And was it a threat? And did he pose a threat to anybody.”
“The problem with it is when we’re trying to litigate on emotion, we’re trying to litigate fear, what causes fear in another. It’s harder to get to the intent of the person. But that’s what’s crucial, right? In this particular case, not only did Daniel not intend to scare his friend with his text message, it was objectively not a threat, and that’s what matters.”
FAIR is committed to advancing civil rights and liberties for all Americans—including children. As Saiz pointed out to the WINK News reporter, “They have to know that there are rules and there are civil rights and there are due process rights that apply to everyone. If we aren’t willing to fight for our children, who are we willing to fight for?”
If we don’t stand up for the rights of Daniel Marquez, then our own rights to free speech and due process are also at risk. If you would like to support the Marquez family, please consider donating to their legal defense fund.
Yours,
Bion
__
Bion Bartning
bion@fairforall.org
Daniel Marquez: Sheriff Violates a Ten-Year-Old’s Civil Rights
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As I started reading, I thought “This can’t be real-- it’s got to be an allegory for something else, or the set-up to a joke, or...”
Especially since the news outlet was “WINK” ( as in, wink wink, we’re kidding).
But no. This really happened to a kid. Unbelievable.
Mind blowing!