Topix commenters at Citizen-Times, be warned

Jason Sandford

Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.

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Loyal reader RG sent me a link to this very interesting story. If you’ve ever read the comment threads at the Asheville Citizen-Times, you know what kind of vile filth gets spilled. Now it looks like those folks can get sued:

FORT WORTH — Hundreds of people who posted their opinions of a sexual assault trial in an online forum are now the targets of a lawsuit.

The authors of those comments on a Web site thought they were anonymous, but this week, a judge ruled their names should be revealed.

Mark and Rhonda Lesher lived quietly in northeast Texas; Mark practiced law, Rhonda ran a beauty salon.

Then, last year, a woman accused the couple — along with another man — of sexually assaulting her. That’s when the anonymous comments started appearing on Topix.com.

An estimated 1,700 statements were too graphic to be included in this story, going far beyond the criminal charges.

“They were perverted, sick, vile, inhumane accusations,” said Mark Lesher in a telephone interview from Clarksville, Texas.

The Leshers’ attorney, William Pieratt Demond, labeled the comments “a form of persecution.”