Three Georgia residents are accusing Cobb County Sheriff Craig Owens of violating their free speech rights, alleging in a lawsuit that he silenced their critical opinions on Facebook following a viral incident in which he called deputies to a Burger King over a botched order. 

The legal filing in U.S. District Court lists David Cavender – a Republican who unsuccessfully ran against Owens for the sheriff position this election season – as one of the plaintiffs. 

“Defendant Craig Owens was displeased that certain persons, including the Plaintiffs, were publicly criticizing his performance as the Sheriff of Cobb County, Georgia,” the lawsuit says. “Instead of upholding the First Amendment and stomaching speech he found personally distasteful, Owens decided instead to utilize the powers of his office to censor the speech of Plaintiffs, and others, based on viewpoint.” 

An attorney wrote that in October, in the weeks leading up to Election Day, a video that emerged of “Owens utilizing Cobb County Sheriff deputies to intercede in a personal dispute with Burger King employees became viral” and that the plaintiffs “had been leveling harsh criticism against Owens” over it and other matters. 

GEORGIA SHERIFF CALLS DEPUTIES FOR HELP AFTER BECOMING UPSET THAT BURGER KING GOT HIS ORDER WRONG 

READ THE FILING BELOW. APP USERS: CLICK HERE

In that March 2023 incident, three deputies were dispatched to the fast-food restaurant in Mableton with sirens blaring. 

“Hey, do me a favor. I need to get, all I need is the owner name of whoever owns this damn facility or the manager,” Owens is heard telling one deputy who showed up on scene. 

“I wanted her [to get his female passenger] a Whopper, no mayo, cut in half, right?” he continued. 

The sheriff added: “I don’t need no damn money back no more. I just need to find out who owns this place so I can do an official complaint.” 

The lawsuit says on Oct. 29 of this year, Owens put in place “sweeping restrictions” over who can post comments on the Cobb County Sheriff Office’s Facebook page. 

EX-GEORGIA POLL WORKER INDICTED FOR MAILING BOMB THREAT TO POLLING PLACE: FBI 

“On information and belief, these restrictions were put in place because of the viewpoint of commenters’ posts grew increasingly critical of Owens and his performance as Sheriff; in other words Owens put the restrictions in place to prevent the expression of a viewpoint,” the lawsuit says, adding that some of the posts made by the plaintiffs were deleted or hidden by the Sheriff’s Office Facebook account. 

The Sheriff’s Office then wrote on Nov. 1 that it is “committed to providing a safe and respectful space on our social media channels.  

“To keep our posts focused on community safety updates and educational info, we’ve turned off the comments feature,” it added. 

The lawsuit is asking a judge to “declare the actions of Defendant Owens… to be view-point based restrictions in violation of the First Amendment”, prohibit his “unlawful practice of retaliatory censorship” and to prevent him “from deleting comments, blocking posters, or restricting commenters to those who are friends or referenced within posts,” among other damages. 

The lawsuit against Cobb County Sheriff Craig Owens states the plaintiffs posted critical comments of him online following an incident involving the sheriff at a Burger King in Georgia last year. (Getty Images)

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Both the Cobb County Sheriff’s Office and the law firm that filed the lawsuit did not immediately respond Thursday to requests for comment from Fox News Digital. 

Fox News’ Landon Mion contributed to this report. 

The progressive Georgia district attorney who was prosecuting nursing student Laken Riley’s illegal immigrant killer refused to seek the death penalty even after removing herself from the case – drawing outrage when the defendant was sentenced to life without parole.

Athens-Clarke District Attorney Deborah Gonzalez, who appointed a special prosecutor to take over the prosecution of Jose Ibarra at the end of February amid criticism over her own prosecutorial record, laid out her soft-on-crime reforms when she assumed office in January 2021.

Gonzalez said her office would “no longer seek the death penalty” and when considering charging defendants, she would “take into account collateral consequences to undocumented defendants,” according to a copy of the district attorney’s policies shared by Georgia State Rep. Houston Gaines.

Ibarra, a 26-year-old Tren de Arangua gang member, was sentenced Wednesday to life without parole after being convicted of murdering the 22-year-old college student. His sentence angered many Republicans, including Gaines, who felt the killer should get the death penalty.

Gonzalez announced this spring would not seek the death penalty against Ibarra, stating, “our utmost duty is to ensure that justice is served and that the victim’s family is an integral part of the deliberation process.”

She also acknowledged critics will seek to “exploit this case for political gain,” but legal decisions must “always transcend political considerations,” according to WRDW.

The decision appears in line with what Gonzalez told staff in 2021.

“Cases which are legally eligible for the death penalty are eligible for sentences of life without parole and life with parole eligibility after serving thirty years,” she wrote.

“Both of these sentences constitute very substantial punishment. Decisions to seek the sentence of life without parole are a sentence of death in prison.”

She also reportedly said the office would take into account “collateral consequences to undocumented defendants,” when making charging decisions.

GOP lawmakers were incensed that Ibarra would not face the death penalty.

“If there was ever a case where the death penalty was appropriate, this is it,” Gaines tweeted Wednesday.

Meanwhile state Sen. Colton Moore called on the state attorney general to intervene.

“I am officially calling on Attorney General Chris Carr to file an emergency motion to intervene and demand the death penalty for the murderer of Laken Riley,” he tweeted.

“District Attorney Deborah Gonzalez let her radical political agenda stand in the way of justice. By refusing to seek the death penalty, she denied Laken’s family, friends, and community the full measure of justice they deserve.”

Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor-Greene also weighed in.

“Jose Ibarra deserves the death penalty,” she tweeted. “Just as Laken’s mother Allyson asked the judge, Laken’s evil (murderer) deserves exactly what he gave to Laken.”

Gonzalez lost her reelection bid this month by a 20-percentage point margin.

Georgia football added another coveted in-state piece to its 2025 recruiting haul on Wednesday when it landed a commitment from a four-star edge rusher.

North Atlanta’s Chase Linton announced his pledge to Georgia over Rutgers, where he was previously committed, and Georgia Tech. He played around at his ceremony like he was going to pick the other schools before finally revealing that he picked the Bulldogs and put on a Georgia cap and showed a Bulldogs shirt.

“Go Dawgs!” he said in an announcement streamed on Instagram.

The 6-foot-5, 220-pound Linton is ranked as the nation’s No. 180 overall prospect and No. 17 edge rusher by the 247 Sports Composite.

“He has a heck of a burst for a guy for his height and his size,” North Atlanta football assistant coach Bryce Doe, who coached Linton the last three years as head track and field coach, told the Athens Banner-Herald. “He hasn’t run a lot of running events in track and field, but I can tell you for the first 60 meters he’s just as fast as any kid out there. He’s just as fast as any DB or receiver for the first 60 meters.”

Linton was third in the region in the triple jump last year at 44.85 and finished a spot outside of qualifying for the state meet.

“He came in just as tall as he is now, but he was kind of awkward and uncoordinated is a good way to describe him in his first year,” Doe said.

Linton started to show his speed and explosion as a sophomore, Doe said, “and started to put it together.”

Linton, this season, had 51 tackles including 31 solos with 16 tackles for loss and 9 sacks.

He’s the 26th commitment for Georgia’s 2025 class.