Colorado’s second-highest court on Thursday agreed a man who filed suit over media coverage of his protest activity failed to show how his defamation claims had merit.

In April 2021, the Northglenn/Thornton Sentinel reported on Richard Roy Blake’s protests outside Masjid Ikhlas – Metropolitan Denver North Islamic Center. For years, Blake had shown up to “open houses” at the mosque, reportedly hoping to find “moderate” Muslims who were receptive to his concerns about the treatment of women and Christians under some Islamic regimes.

At one point, a jury in municipal court convicted him of violating Northglenn’s sidewalk obstruction ordinance, after Blake stood outside with a sign that read “Equal Rights for Christians in Islamic Nations” on one side and “Islam Kills” on the other.

Blake sued Colorado Community Media and the article’s author, Liam Adams, for defamation and infliction of emotional distress. In addition to disputing how the article characterized Blake, he also accused the defendants of being a “shill for an ideology” that allegedly promotes the abuse of women. Colorado Politics previously collaborated with Colorado Community Media and Adams on multiple articles unrelated to Blake’s protests.

Case: Blake v. Marcari-Healey Publishing Company

Decided: September 7, 2023

Jurisdiction: Denver

Ruling: 3-0

Judges: Stephanie Dunn (author)

Jerry N. Jones

W. Eric Kuhn

Background: 10th Circuit finds no merit to First Amendment claims of Northglenn mosque protestor

The defendants moved to dismiss under Colorado’s relatively new “anti-SLAPP” law, which stands for “strategic lawsuits against public participation.” The legislature enacted the law in 2019 to provide a mechanism to quickly dispose of litigation that implicates a person’s First Amendment rights – specifically, the rights to free speech and to petition the government.

To date, the court has sided with dissatisfied customers sued over negative online reviews of businesses, a woman who spoke out about domestic violence on social media and a Planned Parenthood executive who criticized a series of misleading videos about fetal tissue donation.

In September 2022, then-Denver District Court Judge Ross B.H. Buchanan granted the anti-SLAPP motion and dismissed the case. While the Sentinel article contained some inaccurate language, Buchanan found the substance of the story relied on available sources of information about Blake’s behavior at the mosque.

“Although the court agrees that the article does not paint Plaintiff in the most flattering light,” Buchanan wrote, “the statements merely repeat what was stated to police and included in an official report, and therefore, the court finds the statements to be a substantially accurate report.”

Blake also challenged the constitutionality of Colorado’s anti-SLAPP law, pointing to court decisions in Washington and Minnesota that struck down those states’ similar laws for infringing on the right to a civil jury trial. Buchanan noted, however, that Colorado has no universal right to a civil jury trial.

Blake, representing himself, appealed the decision. He continued to dispute the “tone for the article” and its characterization of his actions. The defendants labeled the appeal “completely frivolous.”

A three-judge panel of the Court of Appeals determined it was unable to meaningfully evaluate Blake’s arguments because of the major deficiencies in his filing.

“But even if we were inclined to review the district court’s order, the brief contains no argument supported by lucid reasoning demonstrating any legal error,” wrote Judge Stephanie Dunn in the Sept. 7 opinion.

Earlier this year, the federal appeals court based in Denver sided against Blake in a related lawsuit where he sought to strike down Northglenn’s sidewalk obstruction ordinance as unconstitutional.

The case is Blake v. Marcari-Healey Publishing Company LLC et al.