A number of states* retain the offense of blackening the memory of the dead in their criminal libel laws.
It is not true Ivins moved in down the block from Haigwood. He came first. He and his wife then moved to Frederick. Then Dr. Haigwood came. This was all readily knowable by the Associated Press though the most rudimentary checking of contemporaneous published reports. Thus, it is regrettable that there was no correction. While these criminal laws are rarely enforced (and would never be enforced against media just reporting in good faith on news of public interest), it nonetheless points to the interest that the FBI and press “get it right.”
See, e.g., Colo. Rev. State. Sec. 18-13-105 (1998) (making it a felony to “knowingly publish or disseminate, either by written instrument, sign, picture, or the like, any statement or object tending to blacken the memory of one who is dead);
Ga. Code Ann. Sec. 16-11-40 (1998) (same)
Idaho Code Sec. 18-4801 (1998) (same)
Nev. Rev. State Ann. Sec. 200.510 (Michie 1998) (same)
N.D. Cent. Code Sec. 12.1-15.01 (1995) (same)
12 Okla. St. Sec. 1441 (1995) (same)
Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code Ann. Sec. 73.001 (West 1998)
Utah Code Ann. Sec. 45-2-2 (1998)
“It is unusual that he used something so close to his real name given the standard is something totally fake. For example, beginning in 2006, he used Prunetacos.”
Yipes!