There's some light at the end of the tunnel for this defendant in Illinois, in the form of a ruling issued by the First Circuit Court of Appeals just 5 days ago.
In a the case
Glik v. Cunniffe, the Court held that the citizens have a First Amendment right to record the police in public settings. Among other things, the court stated in its ruling:
Quote:
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It is firmly established that the First Amendment?s aegis extends further than the text?s proscription on laws ?abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press,? and encompasses a range of conduct related to the gathering and dissemination of information. As the Supreme Court has observed, ?the First Amendment goes beyond protection of the press and the self-expression of individuals to prohibit government from limiting the stock of information from which members of the public may draw.? An important corollary to this interest in protecting the stock of public information is that ?[t]here is an undoubted right to gather news ?from any source by means within the law.??
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and
Quote:
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In our society, police officers are expected to endure significant burdens caused by citizens? exercise of their First Amendment rights. Indeed, ?[t]he freedom of individuals verbally to oppose or challenge police action without thereby risking arrest is one of the principal characteristics by which we distinguish a free nation from a police state.? The same restraint demanded of law enforcement officers in the face of ?provocative and challenging? speech must be expected when they are merely the subject of videotaping that memorializes, without impairing, their work in public spaces.
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You can bet your bottom dollar that quotes from the First Circuit ruling will be front and center in the defense arguments in Michael Allison's case.
If any of you are interested, the Court's ruling in the Glik case
can be found here.