Okla. prosecutor files criminal libel complaint against blogger

A local district attorney in Oklahoma has filed a criminal libel complaint against a blogger there — and police are investigating the case.

Authorities last week subpoenaed blogger Harold King for the names and Social Security numbers of 35 bloggers on his Web site, mccooler.net. As of Saturday, the McAlester News-Capital reported the authorities appeared to be letting that subpoena drop after King volunteered his own pseudonym and that of another blogger who had agreed to be identified. King also filed an objection to the subpoena.

Still, the underlying investigation continues into District Attorney Jim Bob Miller’s complaint against King. According to the News-Capital, Miller listed himself as the victim of criminal libel in paperwork filed with the police last week. He put down the district attorney’s office phone number as his contact information.

“Victim said the suspect is criminally libel for his comments and other people’s comments on the ‘mccooler,’" the News-Capital quotes the police report saying. Precisely which comments offended Miller is not mentioned.

For his part, King reportedly cannot afford a lawyer and told the News-Capital he plans to reach out to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. “I’m not liable for anyone else’s comments," he said.

According to the Tulsa World, Oklahoma’s criminal libel statute — one of the relatively few remaining in the country — allows a punishment of up to one year in jail and a $1,000 fine.