SALINE COUNTY, Ark. – The attorney for a Saline County candidate for sheriff’s defamation suit responded to a motion to have the case thrown out.
Both the dismissal and the response were filed on Wednesday, the response being filed just after 11 p.m. to the 8:58 a.m. motion to dismiss.
Defendant files for dismissal in Saline County sheriff’s candidate defamation suit
Saline County candidate Richard Friend filed a lawsuit on March 10 against Kevin Cooper, Rick Cross and five John Does over a series of social media posts. His suit claims they knowingly made false statements about him, timed to cost him votes in the primary.
Friend is currently slated for a runoff in the race after receiving 32.9% percent of the Republican primary vote compared to candidate Dustin Robinson’s 37%. Friend is the current Chief of Police in England, Arkansas, and Robertson is the current Saline County Chief Deputy.
ACLU of Arkansas files suit against Saline County over library director firing
The Wednesday motion to dismiss drew parallels between Friend’s suit and Marxist politics as “tactics of the left.”…