1ST AMENDMENT AUDITING: The practice of exercising one’s constitutional right to record video for the purpose of educating anyone who attempts to infringe that right and commending those who respect it.
Here is some basic knowledge you will want to familiarize yourself with regarding 1st Amendment Audits
THE 1ST AMENDMENT OF THE US CONSTITUTION: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances
1ST AMENDMENT AUDITING: The practice of exercising one’s constitutional right to record video for the purpose of educating anyone who attempts to infringe that right and commending those who respect it.
The right of citizens to record the police or any functioning/moving part of our Local, State, and Federal Government is a critical check and balance. It creates an independent record of what took place in a particular incident, one that is free from accusations of bias, lying, or faulty memory. Unfortunately, law enforcement officers have been known to ask people to stop taking photographs or recording video of public places. Those who fail to comply have sometimes been harassed, detained, and arrested. When in public spaces where you are lawfully present you have the right to photograph or record anything that is in plain view. That includes pictures and video of federal buildings, transportation facilities, and police. Such photography and video recording is a form of public oversight over the government and is important in a free society
1st Amendment Audit turns into 5th Amendment Audit outside of Federal Contractor 0Building
HERE ARE SOME EXAMPLES OF 1ST AMENDMENT AUDITS
On 6/8/2022 Matt Reardon visits Lafayette County Justice Court to find the answers to a few questions. Prior to the first question being asked, tension mounts over Reardon recording on his cell phone, and this turns into a 1st Amendment Audit involving a court security officer and 2 Deputies of Lafayette County Sheriff’s Department
Here is what really transpired at Lafayette County Justice Court yesterday, and it wasn’t at all like Lt Omar Ahmed made it sound like in his report
Here is what really transpired at Lafayette County Justice Court and it wasn’t at all like Lt Omar Ahmed made it sound like, earning Lafayette County Sheriffs Department a grade of F on this Audit.
What turned into a First Amendment Audit at Lafayette County Justice Court on Wednesday June 8th, 2022 doubled down as another big overreaction by Lafayette County Sheriff’s Department. As shown in the video, Matt Reardon walks through the doors of Justice Court with his cellphone mounted to his DJI Gimbal simply to (try) to find the answers to a couple of questions for a news story he was covering. Immediately Reardon is met by Court Security Officer Chad Mood who rudely and abruptly stops him to tell him (Reardon) he couldn’t come in with his iphone out and on its Gimbal because recording was not allowed in the building. However, not one sign existed anywhere in sight stating the such (meanwhile the building has its own cameras in the ceiling recording). Mood then goes on to stating that the Justice Court/Municipal Court building was “Private Property”, a clear confusion by Mood of where he was at being that the building he referred to as “private” was actually paid for in full by the Tax Payers of Lafayette County, Mississippi. In asking Court Security Officer Mood as to if he was giving a lawful order to leave with the camera phone, Mood gets visibly upset, stands up, and starts advancing (presumably) towards Reardon before walking back to the Clerk’s Office. When Reardon attempts to identify Mood by name and badge number, Mood becomes audibly upset and refuses to identify, prompting Reardon to call the Sheriffs Department for assistance in identifying Mood. Then enters Lt Omar Ahmed whom appears to be completely predisposed that Reardon must be the problem, and this shows clear in their interaction. Watch the video for yourself and feel free to leave your comments on this new video quickly building on plays since published yesterday evening
On Monday June 6th I submitted a simple 1-page motion seeking leave of the court to Amend my complaint and add the MS Department of Mental Health to the lawsuit
On Friday, I received word that I had prevailed in the order to Show Cause on the Lawsuit I filed in District Court on 4/6/2022 and that summons would be prepared and sent out to the Defendants. I did not realize at that time exactly how fast the clerks office would move upon receiving the order from the Judge.. nearly instantaneously! So today, June 6 2022 I submitted a simple 1-page motion seeking leave of the court to Amend my complaint and add the MS Department of Mental Health to the lawsuit after giving it much consideration over the weekend.
Matt Reardon files $27.5 Million lawsuit against the State of Mississippi by and through Lafayette County, it’s Sheriff, and multiple named Officials.
On 6/3/2022 Matt Reardon’s $27.5 Million Lawsuit Advances through A Show Cause Phase Ordered by US District Court Magistrate Judge Jane Virden.
SUMMONS ARE HANDED OFF TO THE US MARSHALS FOR SERVICE ON DEFENDANTS
Reardon is notified he needs to provide addresses for 5 of the listed parties, but the lawsuit survives an onset attack and moves forward to the US Marshals Office being authorized to serve all Defendants with process, and there are quite a few of them!
Matt Reardon files $27.5 Million lawsuit against the State of Mississippi by and through Lafayette County, it’s Sheriff, and multiple named Officials.
The 70-page lawsuit also names Communicare, it’s executive director, and two of its employees. It seeks $2.5 million in compensatory damages and $25 million in punitive damages in a bold move to help deter future conduct of the such
Reardon claims it was fraudulent, untrue statements given by the Lafayette County Sheriff, Joey East, acted on twice by Communicare employees whom acted in a reckless and negligent way that are fully attributable. He says all others named either assisted or had a duty to prevent the ruthless attack and deprivation of Reardon’s retained rights in these shocking, unprecedented moves to cover up major discrepancies.
Investigative Guerilla Reporter Journalist Matt Reardon Hits Back with Precision in bringing forth facts and truths in this 42-minute video detailing out his second shocking discovery of records that he alleges were fraudulently changed in the Lafayette County Circuit Court. The video begins with a clerk from the Circuit Clerk’s Office informing Reardon that his assigned judge in a new matter filed in this North Mississippi Circuit Court would be Judge Kent Smith, and that the judges are assigned via an algorithm that randomly (and presumptively fairly) assigns a circuit court judge to a newly filed case out of the three Circuit Court Judges available. Reardon is shown simply trying to find out where the responsibility falls when the Judge in his newest court filing is mysteriously changed to the same Circuit Court Judge (Luther) Reardon claims presents a gigantic conflict of interest, even citing certain individual violations of the Judicial code of ethics, the high standard all judges are held to. After walking out of the Circuit Court Courthouse, Reardon mildly states his state of shock and concern at how quickly the situation deteriorated. Outside, Reardon is then confronted by Lafayette County Sheriff Joey East who tells Reardon to not go back into Circuit Court unless he has something in specific to file. At this point, Reardon takes the opportunity to get a few things off of his chest regarding the flagrant uncaring abuse of what he states is his constitutional rights and civil duty, even referencing to the Lafayette County Sheriff’s requests as being “tyrannical”. A few other pleasantries are exchanged before Reardon leaves in disarray at what had just transpired. After an unsuccessful call to Judge Luther and Judge Smith’s Offices, Reardon receives a call from Circuit Court advising him that his newest court filing was improperly filed in circuit court and would need to be refiled in Justice Court which Reardon rushes to do in just the nick of time.
The very next day, December 7th, 2021, Lafayette County Sheriff Joey East rose to the occasion once again in passing obnoxious lies and complaints centered around constitutionally protected activity as a journalist, reporter, and credentialed member of the press to an employee of Communicare by the name of Rachel Alcorn with a predisposed plan to exploit the State’s mental health laws by cutting corners, ignoring required procedure under state law, and seeking to separate a husband and father of four from his family in a grueling, sickening act that undoubtedly would align with not only the feeling, but the legal definition of human trafficking. Reardon is seen arriving home with his family when two Lafayette County Sheriff’s Deputies pull up advising Reardon that a “Writ to take Custody for Mental Commitment” had been taken out for him earlier that day, and he is then taken into custody. And this they were successful in doing at the expense of both me and my family when no crimes were ever committed and the entire procedure was botched through and through.
On 12/30/2021 It was made known that Local Law Enforcement tying directly to the Lafayette County Sheriff Joey East had tendered the most obnoxious, damning of lies to Rachel Alcorn, an employee of Communicare, in a successful attempt to get Communicare to seek Judicial Commitment of Matt Reardon. East’s motive in the matter is very clear to see when taking into consideration key facts based upon numerous erroneous and concerning findings have more recently surfaced regarding the Lafayette County Sheriff’s alleged involvement in a matter dating back to 2017. Even more alarming is the fact that the latest record fraudulently altered in Circuit Court that was discovered by me just so happened to be a matter I was appealing from Lafayette County Justice Court where East’s Deputies and even he himself gave false sworn testimony in order to contrive a conviction based upon lies. Reardon immediately condemned the latest ruthless attack and labeled it for what it was: a fraudulent commitment coming about as a result of completely erroneous lies spewed by the sheriff, Joey East, and completely botched procedure by Communicare and its Employees.
After voicing his complete disgust with the matter to a Communicare employee, Reardon was informed that he needed to submit any complaint in writing to the director of the Facility including any demand for preservation of evidence. Early on in the afternoon on February 8th, 2022 at the conclusion of speaking with chancery court clerk Sherry Wall, Reardon filed and served an 8-page shocking letter with Chancery Judge Lawrence Little’s chambers and Communicare’s executive director Dr. Sandy Rogers.
The very next day, February 9th, 2022, another Communicare Employee (Susan Beard) proceeded to file another affidavit for commitment of Reardon claiming he had refused to attend a scheduled appointment, however, recorded phone calls with Communicare paint an entirely different picture and in combination with the Complaint filed just 1-day prior almost certainly show that this latest move by Communicare and its employees was ill-brought once again and done to retaliate against Reardon and once again try to dodge a situation that the county and Communicare brought on themselves.
On February 10th, 2022, upon returning home close to midnight from his wife being hospitalized due to pregnancy complications, Lafayette County Sheriffs Deputies light up the yard with blue lights and take Reardon once again into custody for the affidavit for commitment filed in front of his wife, Madelyn. Reardon was held for 6-days without any rights afforded to him at the Lafayette County Detention Center and then shipped 2.5 hours across the state to the East Mississippi State Hospital in Meridian MS on February 16th, 2022. There he would stay, deprived of his liberty among other rights, for 30 days. All of this put Madelyn into preterm labor and she gave birth via emergency c-section on February 17, 2022 to a 2lb 11oz extremely premature baby boy without her husband by her side.
Reardon now take the position that this latest move constitutes violations of the false claims act along with violations of the whistleblower act, while leaving him feeling like a victim of human trafficking by county officials and a Quasi-Governmental entity, Communicare through the exploitation of Mississippi’s outdated mental health laws in a conspiracy involving local Government officials and private citizens in this latest move that he fully believes chills the Constitutional Rights of other citizens, particularly journalists and reporters if left unchecked. Particularly when these individuals could be poised to pull this very bold move again on him, or anyone else whom holds any information disfavoring to them.
Reardon claims these acts of aggression demonstrate acts of insurrection committed by the Lafayette County Sheriff through a massive abuse of power, and that everything that has occurred since 2017 calls for investigation and prosecution under the Patriot Act and the RICO Act.
Reardon alleges All of this amounts to a Completely Low-Blow, Conspired upon Attack organized and orchestrated by Lafayette County Officials to intimidate and remove not only a private citizen, but a credentialed Journalist/Reporter not once but twice within 2 months time; on December 7, 2021 and February 10th, 2022.
NOT ONLY WAS THIS A MASSIVE, INTENTIONAL ATTACK ON HIS CIVIL RIGHTS AND LIBERTIES, BUT THAT THIS WAS AN UNSCRUPULOUS ATTACK ON A CONCERNED CITIZEN DOUBLING AS AN INDEPENDENT REPORTER BY THE SAME GOVERNMENT ENTITY RESPONSIBLE FOR THE CHANGED COURT RECORDS. THERE IS ZERO DOUBT THAT THIS FORM OF RETALIATION STEMS FROM ZERO ACCOUNTABILITY, AS SUCH FULLY CHILLS THE CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS OF ALL CITIZENS UNTIL SUCH TIME THESE MAJOR ISSUES GET PROPERLY ADDRESSED AND RECTIFIED.
Reardon claims that all known facts provide more than enough proof to allege that Lafayette County Officials conspired with at least one Private Citizen and likely multiple to successfully deprive a citizen and credentialed member of the press of his civil rights and that the actions that occurred CHILL the constitutional rights of other citizens until such time this atrocity is properly rectified. He says this most certainly calls for examination and overhaul of an easily manipulable system that the Mississippi Government has exploited, taken full advantage of, and has a high tendency of repeating again.
HE SAYS HIS CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS UNDER THE FIRST AND FOURTH AMENDMENT MADE APPLICABLE TO THE STATES BY THE FOURTEENTH AMENDMENT TO THE UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION WERE VIOLATED AT THE MALICE HANDS OF THE LAFAYETTE COUNTY SHERIFF & OTHER LAFAYETTE COUNTY OFFICIALS
12-Page Affidavit Reardon filed on Monday, 1/3/2021
See the Court Filing Filed in Circuit Court to Spark the latest series of events in Lafayette County, MS
AND HERE IS THE ORIGINAL FRAUD DISCOVERED WHICH REARDON REPORTS ON IN AUGUST OF 2020
(Posting On Website due to email correspondence being blocked by the entire MS AGO Office)
Mr Geiger,
This is Matt Reardon. On multiple occasions I have informed Lafayette County and State of MS Officials that I am an independent investigative journalist & reporter and have provided a copy of my press credentials to the proper authorities. On December 6th, 2021, I had discovered a key court record in Lafayette County Circuit Court that was fraudulently altered from one assigned circuit court judge’s queue to another. This just so happened to be the second time this has happened over the past year on the two currently active filed matters of mine in Circuit Court. When pressing in for answers as to how this could have happened, the Circuit Clerk, Jeff Busby, got highly defensive and told the other clerks not to answer any of my questions and even acknowledged he had never seen or heard of this happening.
Busby then communicated out to the Lafayette County Sheriff Joey East in order to try to get rid of me due to the newest significant issue discovered and undoubtable issues that would come from the discovery. East’s motive in the matter is very clear to see when taking into consideration key facts based upon numerous erroneous and concerning findings have more recently surfaced regarding the Lafayette County Sheriff’s alleged involvement in a matter dating back to 2017. Even more alarming is the fact that the latest record fraudulently altered in Circuit Court that was discovered by me just so happened to be a matter I was appealing from Lafayette County Justice Court where East’s Deputies and even he himself gave false sworn testimony in order to contrive a conviction based upon lies. The very next day, December 7th, 2021, Lafayette County Sheriff Joey East rose to the occasion once again in passing obnoxious lies and complaints centered around constitutionally protected activity as a journalist, reporter, and credentialed member of the press to an employee of Communicare by the name of Rachel Alcorn with a predisposed plan to exploit the State’s mental health laws by cutting corners, ignoring required procedure under state law, and seeking to separate a husband and father of four from his family in a grueling, sickening act that undoubtedly would align with not only the feeling, but the legal definition of human trafficking. And this they were successful in doing at the expense of both me and my family when no crimes were ever committed and the entire procedure was botched through and through.
At approximately 5pm on December 7th, 2021 upon returning home from a Doctors Appointment for one of my children, I was taken into custody at my residence in front of my wife and child based upon false claims in a sinister, cowardly attack on an independent journalist in order to suppress the reporting of fraud to not only the public, but the proper authorities for the dishonesty which took place on open legal matters stemming from the Lafayette County Circuit Court/Circuit Clerks Office.
After discharge from a two-and-a-half-week involuntary stay based upon lies and cover-up, I immediately condemned the ruthless attack and labeled it for what it was: a fraudulent commitment coming about as a result of completely erroneous lies spewed by the sheriff, Joey East, and completely botched procedure by Communicare and its Employees. After voicing my complete disgust with the matter to a Communicare employee, I was informed that I needed to submit any complaint in writing to the director of the Facility including any demand for preservation of evidence. Early on in the afternoon on February 8th, 2022 at the conclusion of speaking with chancery court clerk Sherry Wall, I filed and served an 8-page shocking letter with Chancery Judge Lawrence Little’s chambers and Communicare’s executive director Dr. Sandy Rogers. The very next day, February 9th, 2022, another Communicare Employee proceeded to file another affidavit for commitment of me claiming I had refused to attend a scheduled appointment, however, recorded phone calls with Communicare paint an entirely different picture and in combination with the Complaint filed just 1-day prior almost certainly show that this latest move by Communicare and its employees was ill-brought once again and done to retaliate against me and once again try to dodge a situation that the county and Communicare brought on themselves. All that aside, an agency of the state incarcerating and committing a non-dangerous citizen for the simple reason of not attending a scheduled appointment is an unconstitutional overreach by the State Government no matter what way that is viewed and sets a dangerous precedent which must be addressed and curbed.
On February 10th, 2022, upon returning home close to midnight from my wife being hospitalized due to pregnancy complications, Lafayette County Sheriffs Deputies light up the yard with blue lights and take me once again into custody for the affidavit for commitment filed in front of my wife, Madelyn. I was held for 6-days without any rights afforded to me at the Lafayette County Detention Center and then shipped 2.5 hours across the state to the East Mississippi State Hospital in Meridian MS on February 16th, 2022. There I would stay, deprived of my liberty among other rights, for 30 days. All of this put Madelyn into preterm labor and she gave birth via emergency c-section on February 17, 2022 to a 2lb 11oz extremely premature baby boy without me by her side.
I now take the position that this latest move constitutes violations of the false claims act along with violations of the whistleblower act, while leaving me feeling like a victim of human trafficking by county officials and a Quasi-Governmental entity, Communicare through the exploitation of Mississippi’s outdated mental health laws in a conspiracy involving local Government officials and private citizens. I fully believe this latest move chills the Constitutional Rights of other citizens, particularly journalists and reporters if left unchecked. Particularly when these individuals could be poised to pull this very bold move again on me, or anyone else whom advertently or inadvertently holds any information disfavoring to them. There is accountability issues galore within the ranks of the State Government that is in bad need of addressing and fixing.
It is my goal to pose a direct legal challenge to the mental health laws in the State of Mississippi in an effort to have them struck down as unconstitutional and to seek new refined legislation/laws regarding mental health and particularly commitment of private citizens. I would like some type of assurance that the State AGO is going to open its own investigation into the matters which occurred on December 7, 2021 and February 10th, 2022. I have done my part in providing the information surrounding it. In conclusion, had the State taken action any of the multiple times I brought serious issues to the State’s attention and knowledge, many of the events that have taken place very likely could have been prevented. However Lafayette County Officials have seemingly taken and run with the free run and very limited accountability which they have been given. Something must change.
Please acknowledge receipt of this email and confirm it’s content will be forwarded to the proper authorities to include the public integrity division
We need more Firebrands in the Senate and House like this first Senator speaking up to help fix the cancerous issue such as the second Senator to stand and speak
Matt Reardon announces even more legal action to be pending against the Lafayette County Sheriffs Department, Lafayette County, and the State of Mississippi as he shows play by play everything beginning to fall apart for the Department through the poor decisions of several among its ranks. This video contains scenes of excessive force, police brutality, lies, deprivation of rights, and destruction of property; and may not be suitable for all audiences.
“if two or more persons conspire for the purpose of impeding, hindering, obstructing, or defeating, in any manner, the due course of justice in any State or Territory, with intent to deny to any citizen the equal protection of the laws, or to injure him or his property for lawfully enforcing, or attempting to enforce, the right of any person, or class of persons, to the equal protection of the laws” – 42 USC 1985 – CONSPIRACY TO DEPRIVE RIGHTS
It gets real when Dixon and Tidwell are shown lying on their police reports in trying to justify an arrest when Reardon was simply seeking out the assistance of the Sheriffs Department to deal with conspired upon acts by Liz Crowder. Wam bam thank you mam that spells the aforementioned out verbatim to a T. Particularly when Dixon never audibly says “you are under arrest” and says to “move” which I did. Not one time was I ever told to freeze. So how could an arrest ever be considered lawful. These are questions to be asked on the record.
YET DESPITE ALL FACTS KNOWN AND ALL LIES THAT HAVE SURFACED, I WAS STILL FOUND GUILTY BY JUDGE CHRIS CHILDERS WHOM DENIED ME A TRIAL BY JURY. NOBODY CAN MAKE THE CLAIM THAT THE SYSTEM IS NOT RIGGED AFTER ASSESSING THIS MATTER AT HAND. NOBODY
First off this article is an opinion column regarding my own personal opinions surrounding this controversial topic. I have molded my opinion off of falling clutch to involuntary judicial commitment not once, but twice at the hands of state actors and elected officials whom exploited the loopholes in Mississippi’s mental health laws and used it as a way of locking me up/fencing me in when there was no crime committed for them to have me arrested on. The laws around mental health and the requirements to judicially commit vary from state to state, however there exists strong federal case law which is geared towards preventing exactly that which happened to me more recently here in the State of Mississippi.
Specifically, the U.S. Supreme Court decided in 1975 (O’Connor v. Donaldson) that “A State cannot constitutionally confine… a non-dangerous individual who is capable of surviving safely in freedom by himself or with the help of willing and responsible family members or friends…” This decision established the standard that a finding of “mental illness” alone is not enough to confine a patient against their will; they must also be either:
A danger to the public (invoking the state’s inherent police powers); or
A danger to themselves (the legal doctrine of “parens patriae“).
Civil commitment laws in most states authorize the following kinds of involuntary confinement and treatment:
Emergency Hospitalization – Often referred to as a “psychiatric hold,” this typically involves a limited confinement in response to a crisis for evaluation purposes.
Inpatient Civil Commitment – This is a longer-term confinement, typically in effect until the court determines the patient no longer meets civil commitment criteria.
Outpatient Civil Commitment – Often referred to as “mandated” or “assisted” outpatient treatment (AOT), this involves court-ordered mental health treatment while the patient continues to live in the community (a handful of states haven’t adopted this option, including Maryland and Massachusetts).
A paradox easily forms when comparing the legislature of the state (Mississippi) and the landmark ruling in O’Connor v Donaldson in which that fine line measured on a state level encroaches upon the substantive due process rights of its citizens guaranteed by the fourteenth amendment.
The US Supreme Court was both spot on and crystal clear in their ruling when they decided that a State cannot constitutionally confine… a non-dangerous individual who is capable of surviving safely in freedom by himself or with the help of willing and responsible family members or friends. Lafayette County and the State of Mississippi have more recently demonstrated how easy a state or local county Government can exploit mental health laws in order to attempt to fix (or stage) a more favorable outcome. Could you imagine if O’Connor vs Donaldson hadn’t of occurred or if the justices didn’t rule the way they did?? We’d all be in trouble and seemingly always be in the crosshairs of oppressive government.
It’s for the reasons of what happened to me in December and again in February that I decided a couple of things in particular need to happen with a quickness, of those being:
There is not nearly enough case law on involuntary commitment, and it is badly needed for a more uniform process across the board garnering federal approval
The laws surrounding involuntary commitment MUST be tightened up significantly, particularly in Mississippi, and the individual must meet a high, strict standard of someone whom requires mental health treatment through involuntary commitment
A watchdog agency should always oversee the involuntary commitment process to ensure no malice or ill intent causes such commitment so as not to strip and deprive a functioning American citizen of his or her liberty and other due process rights
I believe that a trial by an impartial jury should always be preserved and should always be allowed on involuntary commitment proceedings if demanded by the respondent
And Last but certainly not Least, the laws and procedures surrounding involuntary judicial commitment MUST be adhered to fully by the court and any official tasked with any involved role. The worst thing anyone can do is to retaliate to any complaint by using involuntary judicial commitment, or using it in ways to suppress any type of information and basic rights of any citizen.
