San Antonio Express-News (Sunday)
Legal expert weighs in on tirade at Wolff
Scholar says woman’s speech was within limits of law
A verbal attack on Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff last weekend at an H-E-B — the second time he’s been confronted in a store over his support for local mandates to slow the spread of COVID-19 — elicited concerns for public officials’ safety.
Unlike the prior incident, which occurred in a Lowe’s in June 2020, the recent one was recorded and posted on Instagram by the instigator, who followed and berated Wolff from inside the grocery store to his car.
But while the video prompted mostly reproach with some characterizing the episode as harassment and even stalking, a law school instructor specializing in criminal law said such behavior is within legal limits and that police are right to take a cautious approach. Doing so, she said, is in the community’s long-term interest.
“I wouldn’t charge it,” said Donna Coltharp of St. Mary’s University School of Law, who reviewed the video with the San Antonio Express-News.
In the video, a woman who identifies herself on social media as Ashley Rocks chastised Wolff for about three minutes as he pushed a cart to his vehicle on Sept. 5 at a North Side H-E-B.
“You are going to go to jail. They are going to hang you,” Rocks said in the video. “Treason and crimes against humanity. You are going down. Better enjoy your freedom while it lasts, buddy. Then you have to answer to God.”
Rocks’ vitriolic use of words such “hanging” spurred some people to equate her language to a threat and question whether criminal charges are appropriate.
The Bexar County Sheriff’s Office has not announced charges, saying it is reviewing the incident.
Deputy Johnny Garcia, a sheriff’s office spokesman, said that while he cannot comment on Wolff ’s security, the department is aware that the social media post could incite others to confront Wolff.
Rocks said in a statement to the Express-News, which reached her via social media, that she wanted to encourage others to follow her example.
Having been a public defender in federal court, Coltharp has seen charges filed following expressions deemed threats against highlevel elected officials such as Sen. Ted Cruz and Presidents Barack Obama and George Bush.
“They’re always kind of wobblers,” Coltharp said. “Is this person really threatening? Did they have the intent to make this person afraid? Or were they just exercising their amazingly broad free speech rights in as many childish ways as they can?”
Rocks’ tirade, Coltharp said, lacks key elements of a terroristic threat, such as specifically stating where such a threat would come
from. And while Rocks invoked hanging, it was in the context of being judged by others rather than by her.
“She’s really speaking in a common vernacular: ‘Let’s put somebody we don’t like on trial,’ ” Coltharp said. “If she said, ‘I’m carrying’ or ‘People like you make me so grateful Texas lets everybody and their dog have a gun,’ then she would be closer” to a chargeable threat.
Context, she said, is important when law enforcement determines whether words or behavior warrant charges.
Social media has many videos like Rocks’, with people all over the political spectrum verbally assaulting and accusing public figures they disagree with.
“Everyone is talking about impeaching someone else or trying to lock them up,” Coltharp said.
It’s also notable, she said, that Wolff did not show fear, laughing at one point.
Wolff said he’s undeterred when asked about the incident during during a televised COVID-19 briefing on Tuesday.
“I’m going to continue going to the grocery store by myself and live a normal life and not feel intimidated or be scared by some of the things that people say,” Wolff said.
In the June 2020 incident, which occurred in a store checkout line, a man named Terry Toller, upset about the county’s mask mandate at the time, batted a business card out of Wolff ’s hand after the judge offered to discuss the matter later.
Toller was charged with assault on a public servant, a felony, which was reduced to disorderly conduct, a misdemeanor punishable by a fine up to $500.
During Tuesday’s briefing,
Wolff said Rocks’ actions were the result of hatred and anger that festers on social media.
“People pick up those terrible views over the internet, and then they espouse the same views that they pick up,” he said.
Mayor Ron Nirenberg said during the briefing that “incivil” behavior such as Rocks’ needs to be called out and corrected.
“That is as big a disease right now in our community and our nation as anything else,” he said.
Rocks is a local hair stylist who owns AK Lounge on the North Side, according to the salon’s website. While the incident at H-E-B appears to be her most overt political action, her Facebook page shows her views about measures to slow the spread of COVID-19. The top of the page features an image of Rosie the Riveter with “Trump” written on her arm and “I have an immune system. You have one too” added to the graphic.
Rocks declined a request from the Express-News for an interview.
Rocks’ video had been viewed more than 21,000 times as of Saturday morning Soon after she posted it, many comments showed support for her.
By midweek, however, the tide of social media sentiment appeared to turn as more of those commenting found her actions ill-informed and distasteful.
And while often messy, the opportunity for such public discourse is among the reasons that Coltharp said law enforcement should err on the side of not intervening in people expressing themselves.
“As despicable as I think her behavior was, that’s how I would want the law to work,” Coltharp said. “It’s striking the balance it’s supposed to strike.”