Pro-life Christians harrassed, arrested, and chased out of Connecticut

Life and Liberty Ministries ^ | 11/16/05 | Dennis Green

[ozoneliar]

There are certainly many legal remedies that are available to you. Malicious arrest, false arrest, and possibly other things.

[little jeremiah]

later pingout?

[BlackElk]

Nolle prosequi means "I choose not to prosecute." It does NOT necessarily mean there was something wrong about the case (although in your case there WAS an obvious violation of your First Amendment rights to free speech and the equally strong or stronger provisions of the Connecticut constitution, both something very wrong with your case). Be aware that a nolled case is not dismissed and can be revived during the 13 months immediately following the nolle. At least until 2000 when I left Connecticut for America and retired. I am now and always will be a recovering attorney.

I practiced law and represented 1100 pro-lifers in Connecticut arrested in abortion mill sit-ins and some others wrongfully arrested for free speech exercises. Connecticut generally avoids arrests such as yours. I suspect that your case might give rise to discipline of the offending officer(s). Talk to a lawyer and get a written commitment from the department that free speech will be honored. Anything short of surrender means take it straight to federal district court. The Connecticut Superior (state) Court will delay you forever. Get a liberal FedJudge (but I repeat myself) to suffer the indignity of having to enjoin the offending police department. Thereafter, hearings triggered by further harassment will be contempt hearings leading to immediate punishment of the offending police.

There is a mountain of pre-existing law to back you up. Don't be dissuaded by the argument that your success might encourage naked folks being painted onto the side of other trucks. Anything that the ACLU and its ilk can do against American morals has been done or will be done regardless of your success.

Attorney Vincent McCarthy of New Milford, Connecticut, is an experienced pro-life attorney of substantial ability and is the Connecticut attorney for Jay Sekulow's American Center for law and justice. Call him.

SergeantsLady: I can sympathize with your resistance to having your children exposed to the giant-sized photos of sliced, diced and hamburgerized babies. You have no legal standing, however. The First Amendment Freedom of Speech has long-since been deemed to include pictorial displays. It is not just to protect public recitations of Mary Had a Little Lamb or Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm. What coarsens our nation is not the public display of murdered baby photos as the mass murder of the babies. 45-50 million slaughtered by surgeries alone (never mind hundreds of millions by abortifacient pills). Here in Illinois, most attempts to limit free speech in this regard start with tose parents who are NOT pro life but feel that boodgums has not reached a sufficient age to be effectively propagandized to believe the "blob of tissue" lies just in case family reputation or convenience dictates dragging Susie to the nearest mill to have her "problem" taken care of. Kids have an honesty problem with the convenient lies of their elders. I am really not trying to be insensitive but protecting your kids on this count means ending abortion. Until it ends, our kids will be psychologically and morally assaulted by its continuance. We can take solace in the fact and so can they, that our kids were the survivors of their generations (1/3 of whose members are slaughtered deprived even of names at the abortion mill death camps if we only count surgical abortions).

[BlackElk]

Also, nolles are in the absolute discretion of the prosecutor. No judicial permission necessary. None allowed. If you ASK for an immediate dismissal, the judge may say no to dismissal at that time. After thirteen months since the entry of the nolle, the dismissal is automatic and a matter of statutory law.

[Salvation]

Persecution!

[SergeantsLady]

I appreciate your taking the time to explain the laws and with all my heart I hope the issue is resolved before my daughter is old enough to see such photos. She will see them, because it is important to understand the consequences of a phrase that sounds so reasonable "A Woman's right to choose".

But for now, I want her to be an innocent care free child...and not accidentally see an image that's too brutal for her to understand...and so brutal that her heart would break. Surely, since the purpose of the photograph is to increase awareness of the destruction of innocent life...there should be an awareness & accommodation made for protecting the innocence of those children whose mothers obviously choose Life.

[Psalm 73]

Thanks for the PING - for too long we have allowed the Demoncrats and Rino's to define the issue.
These images strike at the heart of the "woman's right to choose" banner - it shows EVERYONE what the choice REALLY is about - little baby boys and little baby girls being brutally and painfully killed.
I pray ever morning for all of the pro-life warriors on the front lines and in the trenches (I am one also).

[wolfcreek]

The Devil's gone down to Connecticut.Connect..i ...cut?

[Aquinasfan]

down a highway that a totally innocent, obviously pro-life Mothers travel with their minivans full of toddlers....that's NOT appropriate and my sympathies are now with the Officer.

Imagine if someone had driven down the autobahn with pictures of the ovens back in 1942. "Don't upset the children!"

[SergeantsLady]

In Germany's case, I don't think it would've helped...since they saw their neighbors, their shop keepers, their friends and school mates being rounded up on the streets, herded into buses and never return. Even so, the stories abound about those parents who tried as hard as possible to keep their personal despair and horror from their children until the last possible second... Just as the early Christian parents did when whole families were being fed to the lions. They'd tell the younger ones it was a game and lead them out first before the lions got "full" and just wanted to "play" for a while. The world has always been ready to sacrifice the innocence of children...and parents have always tried to protect them (expection for some of this generation as noted by the need to have just graphic reminders placed on trucks & signs). A little consideration for the living babies does not seem unreasonable to hope for or disrespectful of the efforts of this particular Pro-Life Ministry.

Driving down a road with a 13' bloody fetus is a technique to call attention to the horror of abortion and to the Pro Life cause...stage, theatrics to generate publicity and possibly some fund raising. Same attention could be obtained using perhaps something written bold enough to shock literate adults but with a graphic that doesn't horrify innocent toddlers with an image they are too young to truly understand.

Parking same truck outside a skating rink full of 13 & 14 year old teenagers...now that's the audience that needs to see the consequences of thoughtless actions. Or outside clinics were abortions are known to occur or beside a Planned Parenthood parking lot where abortions are discussed...those locations would have a profound impact on the target segment...Women considering an abortion. And undoubtedly the same quick media attention of being ticketed by the Police would still result. I saw the photograph of what I assume is the "truck" in all the fine detail available via digital technology... and until that instant I'd been outraged by the actions of the Police and fully supportive of the Ministry. At the time it wasn't posted on the original link page & there was no description given of what was on the truck...I had to go through several "links"...perhaps it's changed now...but whoever initially did the Web posting obviously knew that image would detract sympathy away from the outraged claim of Police abuse. I'm tired of being manipulated by the MSM and I'm tired of having the same tactics used by causes that I support...

[Aquinasfan]

theatrics to generate publicity

Nothing changes minds like the photos, which is why the Left hates them so much.

[nutmeg]

Connecticut ping!

Please Freepmail me if you want on or off my infrequent Connecticut ping list.

[BlackElk]

Each parent must be able to make these decisions. Your instinct and judgment may well be right. As I think you know, I was not referencing your situation in saying that some parents want to lie to their kids.

In Connecticut, some folks sent out mass mailings to postal customer at every address in several zip codes at regular postal rates enclosing the dead baby pictures in sealed envelopes marked on the outside: "Do not open when children are present."

I took a different route. I have three daughters. I brought the elder two (then about 8 and 6) with me to an abortion mill to watch me confront a particularly vicious deathscort (a male Yale biology instructor/young with dead eyes) who was in the habit of physically and psychologically intimidating pro-lifers. With the girls in tow, and other adults at the ready to take them away as necessary (which it was not), I was within two feet of his face and told the girls that he was what they did not want to grow up to be and why. Much less trouble from him thereafter. All three of my girls are quite balanced and very active pro-lifers at 18, 16 and 10. What worked for them may not work for other kids. Each parent must decide.

While I believe that the pictures on the trucks on the highways are quite legal and constitutionally protected, I do not necessarily believe that they are the best tactic but I am not inclined to undercut activist pro-lifers on strategy. Being an attorney gives me a better shot at understanding the law but no better status as a strategist than anyone else.

No one can very well criticize you for wanting to maintain the innocence that God gave your kids. Quite admirable, actually. God bless you and yours.

[Rodney King]

However, I clicked on the article and eventually was directed to another link which showed a picture of was I assume is the actual truck (standard 13'cargo truck) completely covered by the image of a huge, bloody, presumably aborted baby.

Yeah, they really shouldn't show the horror of it. For that reason, I also think it should be illegal to show pictures of the holocaust on TV.

[Lesforlife]

A similar situation took place in Colorado last week.

The drivers of the truth truck were detained for 2 1/2 hours
while the officers searched their law books for a way to charge
them with a violation!

[Lesforlife]

Or the photos of piles of jewish bodies in the holocaust?

The whole point is to show the truth of what abortion
does to a propagandized nation that thinks tiny pre-born babies are "blobs of tissue."

Hence the term "Truth Truck!"

[Labyrinthos]

I wonder if you would have oppose showing pictures of lynchings in Northern newspapers prior to the civil war?

I can choose NOT to buy the newspaper, but I can't close my eyes while driving.

[Lesforlife]

What a great line!!!

I can envision an educational article coming out of this
sentiment.

[Lesforlife]

Eloquent expanation!