Lawsuit in Fulton County targets Georgia mugshot website
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
Illustration: Maura Losch/Axios
A Bartow County man claims a mugshot website linked his booking photo for a "resolved traffic matter" next to headlines accusing him of rape and other crimes he says he never committed.
Why it matters: What shows up when someone Googles your name can shape your reputation. A Fulton County lawsuit argues The Georgia Gazette got it wrong.
Driving the news: In a Feb. 9 Fulton County Superior Court hearing, plaintiff Krett Dupree said the alleged error has hurt his personal and professional lives. He was alerted to the post by a client of his remodeling business, he said.
- "I'm a single man and anybody with any sense would Google someone before they got romantically involved with [them]," Dupree told the court.
- "I can't even muster up the courage to ask someone out because if this shows up, I mean, they'd be a fool to agree to go out with me."
The other side: Jeff Golomb, the lawyer representing The Georgia Gazette, told Axios and argued in motions that his client denies ever publishing the allegations about Dupree. The website says it only posted his official Cherokee County booking entry for a charge labeled "Sentenced."
- In his affidavit, the website's publisher, Matthew Sayle, argued that an apparent mashup may have happened because Google's search algorithm mistakenly paired Dupree's photo with unrelated crime posts on The Georgia Gazette's Facebook page.
- "None of this was published on anything affiliated with The Georgia Gazette website," Golomb said at the hearing.
The defense noted Dupree never submitted a removal request prior to filing the lawsuit and did not include any screenshots or other evidence of the posting.
- Toya Perkins, Dupree's lawyer, declined to comment.
Context: Critics of The Georgia Gazette, which launched in 2020, say the website is clickbait that harms the reputations of those who have been accused, but not convicted, of crimes.
- The website says it's a news outlet aimed at increasing transparency.
Zoom out: Leading news sites, including Axios, have scaled back the publishing of mugshots over fairness concerns. Private mugshot sites continue to operate under public-records law and First Amendment protections.
- The rise in the number of websites that charge people to remove their booking photos prompted Georgia lawmakers in the early 2010s to crack down on the business model in the state and limit when law enforcement can release the images.
What's next: The Georgia Gazette wants Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney to dismiss the case under Georgia's anti-SLAPP law, which protects speech tied to matters of public interest.
- McBurney asked the two parties to submit memos about the defense's motion in the coming weeks.