US court voids conviction of influencer who tried to help Trump in 2016

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By Jonathan Stempel

NEW YORK (Reuters) -A U.S. appeals court on Wednesday overturned the conviction of a social media influencer who used Twitter posts that resembled Hillary Clinton ads to spread false information about the 2016 presidential election and help Donald Trump win.

The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan said no rational jury could have found that Douglass Mackey knowingly agreed to join a conspiracy to deprive people of their constitutional right to vote.

It overturned Mackey’s March 2023 conviction in Brooklyn and seven-month prison sentence, and ordered an acquittal.

A spokesman for U.S. Attorney Joseph Nocella in Brooklyn declined to comment. Lawyers for Mackey did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Two lawyers who worked on his appeal joined the U.S. Department of Justice this year.

Mackey, a self-described “troll,” was accused of trying to convince Clinton supporters they could vote for the former Democratic secretary of state by text message, which is false.

He had tweeted two memes, one showing a Black woman and another written in Spanish, and retweeted a third post depicting Clinton. All carried the message it was OK to vote from home.

Mackey is also known as Ricky Vaughn, Charlie Sheen’s character in the first two “Major League” movies.

In the appeals court’s 3-0 decision, Chief Judge Debra Ann Livingston said the mere fact Mackey posted the memes did not mean he conspired with anyone even if he intended to help Trump, a Republican, by suppressing votes for Clinton.

The government’s case centered on discussions in private, right-wing Twitter groups such as the “War Room.”

But the appeals court found a lack of evidence that Mackey even saw the discussions. It also said there was no evidence his tweets tricked anyone into voting improperly.

“The government put forward evidence that Mackey agreed with War Room members to achieve the broad–and generally lawful–objective of distributing content in support of Trump or in opposition to Clinton,” Livingston wrote.

“That does not mean the government proved he knowingly reached an agreement with other War Room members” to suppress Clinton votes, she added.

Wednesday’s decision was joined by Circuit Judges Reena Raggi and Beth Robinson. Republican President George W. Bush appointed Livingston and Raggi to the bench, while Democratic President Joe Biden appointed Robinson.

The case is U.S. v. Mackey, 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, No. 23-7577.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)