A federal judge has rejected a bid by Hood County Sheriff Roger Deeds to dismiss a civil rights lawsuit over journalist and political commentator Kolton Krottinger’s 2025 arrest following a satirical Facebook post. Chief U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor ruled that Krottinger plausibly alleged violations of clearly established constitutional rights.

Background

The dispute began after the Hood County Sheepdogs Facebook account posted a photoshopped image in October 2025 that made it appear local activist Tina Brown endorsed Monica Brown in a Granbury ISD school board race. The page identified its content as satire and jokes and had multiple administrators. Former sheriff’s investigator James Luckie signed a criminal complaint charging Krottinger with online impersonation on November 3, 2025.

Hood County Justice of the Peace Sissy Freeman signed an arrest warrant based on an alleged “intent to defraud the general public.” Luckie arrested Krottinger on November 5, the day after the election. O’Connor found that the complaint’s allegations did not support a reasonable belief that the post’s creator intended to cause injury or loss or illegally obtain money, as required to show an intent to defraud.

Claims Allowed to Proceed

The judge also allowed claims tied to the warrantless seizure and alleged search of Krottinger’s cellphone to proceed. O’Connor wrote that Luckie had no warrant for the phone and could not rely on a search-incident-to-arrest exception at this stage because the court found the arrest lacked probable cause. Krottinger’s First Amendment retaliation claims against Deeds and Luckie also survived.

Krottinger alleged authorities selectively targeted him because he had criticized Deeds and other Hood County officials. The court also allowed Krottinger’s claim that the sheriff’s office restricted him from commenting on its official Facebook page because of his viewpoint.

Original reporting: The Dallas Express — read the source article.