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Jennifer and Wayne Anderson of Houma sued Sheriff Jerry Larpenter after he searched their home and seized the family's computers and cellphones a year ago.

NEW ORLEANS -- A U.S. District Court judge cleared the way for a Terrebonne Parish blogger and her husband to sue Sheriff Jerry Larpenter for violations of her civil rights.

Jennifer and Wayne Anderson sued Larpenter after he searched their home and seized the family's computers and cellphones a year ago.

Larpenter ordered one of his detectives to secure a search warrant under the guise of a criminal defamation investigation into Jennifer Anderson's blog, "ExposeDAT."

Louisiana's criminal defamation statute was declared unconstitutional by the state Supreme Court decades ago as it pertains to elected officials.

Larpenter said he initiated the investigation after Houma insurance company owner Tony Alford filed a criminal complaint about ExposeDAT. The blog questioned the close ties between Alford, Larpenter and Terrebonne Parish President Gordon Dove.

At the time of the search and seizure, Anderson's true identity was not publicly known. She created ExposeDAT using the pseudonym John Turner.

While the judge who issued the search warrant found probable cause for the search, Louisiana's 5th Circuit Court of Appeal found it unconstitutional.

The Andersons filed a civil rights lawsuit in federal court against Larpenter, alleging the sheriff violated Jennifer's First Amendment right to free speech and Fourth Amendment protection against unlawful search and seizure and for malicious prosecution.

In a ruling filed Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Lance Africk denied Larpenter's motion to throw out the case in its entirety, allowing the constitutional claims to proceed.

But the judge dismissed the malicious-prosecution claim because Anderson was never formally prosecuted.

"Given the longstanding and robust constitutional protections afforded speech involving public officials (and speech involving public funds), it can be argued based on these allegations that Sheriff Larpenter acted with at least deliberate indifference to the risk that his actions would violate the Andersons constitutional rights," Africk wrote.

Larpenter has argued Anderson's blog targeted Tony Alford in his capacity as a businessman, not in his role as a member of Terrebonne Parish Levee Board. But like the state court, Africk found Alford is a public official and therefore Anderson's speech would be protected.

"Jennifer Andersons speech falls squarely within the four corners of the First Amendment," Africk wrote.

Wayne Anderson is a Houma Police officer. The day of the search he was placed on indefinite administrative leave. He then had medical problems that forced him off duty until last week.

The resulting scandal caused Jennifer Anderson to lose her job as well.

The order says Larpenter has argued there was no damage done to the Andersons because they got their phones and their computers back without them being searched.

But Judge Africk indicates in his order that the damage caused by sheriff's actions go beyond the alleged trampling of the Andersons' constitutional rights.

"That message if you speak ill of the sheriff of your parish, then the sheriff will direct his law enforcement resources toward forcibly entering your home and taking your belongings under the guise of a criminal investigation is inseparable from the injury and would certainly chill anyone ... from engaging in similar constitutionally protected speech in the future," Africk wrote.

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Judge clears way for bloggers to sue Terrebonne sheriff - Houma Courier