00:00This display on the east side of Houston, where 88% of the neighborhood's population is Hispanic, is sparking an online debate over the First Amendment, and whether this is protected free speech or if it crosses a legal threshold into inciting violence.
00:18The display features two people in red MAGA-like ball caps hanging from gallows. Next to them, another mannequin wearing a poncho and straw hat, two caskets, and a Mexican flag.
00:34And by no means am I threatening nobody's life. This is part of my First Amendment to be able to express how I feel.
00:40The online response has been swift. One user writing, this should be immediately taken down for inciting violence, especially in light of what's happening in America today.
00:52Another suggesting it's a clear hate crime, and someone else on X saying this isn't celebrating Halloween, it's celebrating political violence.
01:01Straight Arrow News spoke with a neighbor who defended the display.
01:05If you believe it, you know it's free will. We live in the land of freedom. We have freedom in this country. So you can celebrate whatever you want to celebrate.
01:16And Rodriguez says while the feedback has been mixed, most of it's been positive.
01:21I'm getting some positive, some negative. A lot of my neighbors love it. You know, everybody. I have not got one person to come with a negative, you know, vibe around here.
01:34Because all I'm doing is practicing my First Amendment rights.
01:37But is this Halloween display protected by the First Amendment?
01:41We spoke with a professor at Washington University's School of Law in St. Louis who teaches on the First Amendment for his input.
01:49The display is what's called an effigy, a depiction of a person.
01:53That's what effigies are. It's a form of speech that goes way back.
01:57When you're asking me about the content of this message, whatever you might think of it, it is protected by the First Amendment.
02:02Important context to point out here. Professor McGarrian noted sometimes there are local regulations against certain banners, postage, or regulations on the size of certain yard displays.
02:15But this homeowner says there are no such local restrictions and that local police confirmed that for him.
02:22McGarrian pointed us to two different Supreme Court cases he says are relevant to this one.
02:27One is R.A.V. v. St. Paul, a case from 1992.
02:33A teenager burned a cross on a black family's lawn, violating a City of St. Paul ordinance, banning symbols that provoke anger based on race, religion, or gender.
02:43However, the Supreme Court ruled that ordinance unconstitutional.
02:47Ruling hate speech alone isn't automatically illegal, but protected under the First Amendment.
02:53And the Supreme Court said you can't do that. You can't restrict speech because of its message, even if the message is really awful.
03:03Another Supreme Court case, Virginia v. Black, from 2003.
03:08This one was over a Virginia law banning cross burnings intended to intimidate.
03:14The Supreme Court ruled that the act of cross burning is protected as free speech and could not automatically be taken as evidence of an intent to intimidate.
03:25McGarrian says it all really comes down to whether a display can be interpreted as a direct, true threat.
03:32That true threat exception is really narrow. It's a really hard thing to prove.
03:37It may be sort of a terrible thing, but you're allowed to say, I think that person deserves to die.
03:43What you're not allowed to do is go up to a person and say, I'm going to kill you.
03:46McGarrian says ultimately the courts decide the interpretation of First Amendment law.
03:52But he says if a case were to arise from this, he believes the homeowner would be protected.
03:58I am strongly confident, based on my knowledge of the law, that any court doing its job properly would look at this and say,
04:09this isn't a true threat of violence directed at a specific person, reasonably perceived as such by any specific person.
04:16This is a strong, perhaps unduly harsh, but First Amendment protected political message.
04:27Thank you for watching our story and thank you to Professor McGarrian for his perspective and his input.
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