Howard H. Shore

Howard H. Shore is a Superior Court Judge of San Diego County, California for Department SD-15. Shore's remarks were widely covered by the media after he announced that the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution did not apply to chalk on the sidewalk, and he prohibited the defendant from mentioning terms like "First Amendment" or "free speech" during the trial.

Notable Cases

Sidewalk chalk case

In October 2011, former U.S. Senator staffer Jeff Olson started protesting outside branches of Bank of America in San Diego. In response, bank official and former police officer Darell Freeman informed Olson that his credit union account at California Coast would be canceled if he continued to demonstrate, though Olson followed up with his bank and learned that wasn't true.

Olson continued to protest, and in February 2012 he started writing anti-bank messages in chalk on the sidewalk in front of Bank of America branches. For the next six months, he visited a bank a few times a week to write slogans on the sidewalk such as "Stop big banks," "No thanks, big banks," and "Matthew 21:12" (a Bible verse where Jesus drove out bankers from the temple). In another case, Olson drew an octopus with bundles of cash held in its tentacles.

On August 28, 2012, Olson was contacted by Officer Bill Miles on behalf of the San Diego Gang Unit and he stopped protesting soon after. It was reported that Olson had completely stopped protesting by the time Bob Filner was elected San Diego Mayor in November 2012.

Mayor Filner at the time said the case was a "waste of taxpayer money." Olson turned down the plea bargain.

Prohibition on mentioning first amendment rights during trial

On June 5, 2013, Judge Shore granted a motion by Deputy City Attorney Paige Hazard, which prohibited Olson's attorney Tom Tosdal from using any of the following terms during the trial: "First Amendment," "free speech," "political speech," "public forum," "free expression," or "expressive conduct." Media reports decried that Olson would not be allowed to claim his first amendment rights. the San Diego Reader, NPR, Gawker, New York Daily News and The Huffington Post.

Shore objected to the reports that defense counsel and defendant were making statements to the media while the trial was ongoing, and issued a gag order that prohibited Olson or any witnesses involved with the case from having any contact with the media. He stated his concern that the case was being tried in the media, and that the comments could reach the jurors, who were bound by their oath to decide the case based only on the evidence presented at trial. He remarked to the defense that they probably wouldn't appreciate the prosecutor making statements to the media about why the defendant should be found guilty. In October 2012, the Court of Appeal reviewed Judge Shore's decision not to allow the collective cultivation defense, and Jackson's felony conviction was reversed. People v. Jackson (2012) 210 Cal.App.4th 525. The Court did not expressly disagree with Judge Shore's analysis, but held that, because there was no established definition of the language Judge Shore was called upon to interpret, the issue should have gone to the jury. Jackson was retried before another judge, and was allowed to use the defense, but was nonetheless convicted of all charges by the jury.