SUMNER COUNTY, Tenn. (WKRN) — The family of missing Tennessee teen Sebastian Rogers made their case Wednesday afternoon against a YouTuber who is covering the case. They claim ‘Bullhorn Betty’ stalked and harassed their family despite orders of protection.
Sebastian Rogers’ case gained national attention from news outlets and social media users after he went missing in February last year.
YouTuber Andra Griffin, also known as ‘Bullhorn Betty,’ was one of those social media users.
Sebastian’s mom and step-grandparents claim that since then, Griffin has stalked and harassed them.
But threats put the court hearing on pause.
“This court has received threats as a result of granting this order of protection, in which those are under investigation for threats made against the bench,” General Sessions Court Judge Ron Blanton explained. “For those reasons alone, I will recuse myself.”
The hearing was passed on to a different judge overseeing the alleged stalking and harassment case.
For about an hour on Wednesday, Katie and Christopher Proudfoot, the mom and stepfather to Sebastian, testified against Griffin, claiming she violated the terms of three orders of protection.
Court documents state Griffin has six violations related to the protection orders.
“After this case is said and done, I will be going after the Proudfoots and the Bowersox for damages,” Griffin said in her YouTube video.
They alleged that Griffin went live on YouTube in August to talk about the family and included their full names in hashtags.
“Are you tagged in this video?” Assistant District Attorney General representing Proudfoots, Eric Mauldin, asked.
“I am,” Katie responded.
“Is your full name tagged in this video?” Mauldin continued.
“It is,” Katie confirmed.
“[Griffin] is reporting a bunch of lies,” Christopher expressed. “She is harassing me, harassing my family.”
Attorneys for both sides argued about intentions and what is included in the First Amendment.
“If she didn’t intend for Chris Proudfoot to view the video, why would she hashtag Chris Proudfoot?” Mauldin said. “If she didn’t intend for Katie to see the video, why hashtag Katie?”
“This is first amendment protected speech,” Attorney representing Griffin, Nick Schulenberg, said. “There has to be some action by Ms. Griffin to direct that to the petitioners, and the statute clearly says it’s only a violation if the defendant knowingly does that.”
This case was bound over to a grand jury.
The order of protection is still in place for all parties, and the judge ruled that she can say the Proudfoots’ names in her coverage but will face consequences if she steps over the line of protected speech.