Video: Itawamba Rapper Wins Federal Appeal

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BY JACK ELLIOTT JR.
Associated Press

JACKSON – A federal appeals court says a Mississippi high school student was exercising his right of free speech when he posted a rap song online that criticized two coaches he accused of misconduct toward female students.

School officials in Itawamba County say Taylor Bell did not cooperate with an investigation into the allegations and caused a major disruption at school by posting the video.

Bell was suspended for seven days and assigned to an alternative school. A federal judge in Mississippi upheld the suspension.

In a 2-1 ruling Friday, a panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals says Bell wasn’t subject to school punishment because he recorded his rap song off campus and used his home computer to post it on the Internet during non-school hours.