A Utah man is suing Wasatch County prosecutors and police, claiming his reputation was damaged when he was labeled as a “terrorist” in the media in connection to a brochure-tossing case.
Scott Eckersley filed the libel lawsuit in Heber’s 4th District Court earlier this month, alleging county officials were “reckless” and “negligent” when they charged him in 2015 with multiple counts of felony “commerical terrorism” after he threw away free tourism brochures that he believed weren’t authorized to be in the lobby of a Midway resort where he owned a room.
The problem? “Commercial terrorism” is an outdated term in Utah’s criminal code for what is now known as “commercial obstruction.