Court will decide if Ashli Ford's threats constitute free speech
Convicted podcaster uses fame and her big platform to extort and intimidate her targets, prosecutors contend
SANDUSKY — Next week, an appellate panel for the Sixth Judicial District Court of Appeals will tackle one of the most high-stakes First Amendment showdowns in recent local history: Does the constitutional right to political dissent include a right to threaten the total destruction of public servants?
Attorney Peter Pattakos and co-counsel Maryam Assar will walk into the courtroom to deliver oral arguments on behalf of convicted podcaster Ashli Ford (App. No. E-25-0042). Pattakos is seeking to overturn Ford’s May 2025 convictions in Erie County Common Pleas Court (Case No. 2024-CR-0091) on four felony counts of intimidation. The defense is advancing a sweeping constitutional gamble: that Ford had a protected right to threaten to destroy the reputations and careers of local leaders if she disagreed with them.
Ford demanded that earlier criminal falsification charges against Ford be dropped for false allegations she made against in 2023, according to prosecutors. In all, she’s been criminally charged three times, including the recent forgery and mortgage fraud trial in Erie County. She used her ex-husband’s identity to obtain COVID relief money, according to prosecutors, and obtain a mortgage on a home where she lived with her new husband, who doesn’t work.
