Posted on 01/06/2005 11:55:20 PM PST by paudio
"Hate Crime" charges against four Christian men, facing a total of 47 years in prison, were dropped after the judge viewed the tape of the incident.
Four Christian men were charged with “hate crime” felony when in fact they were peacefully protesting a homosexual street event on October 10, 2004 in Philadelphia. Concerned Women for America (CWA) urged the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) to intervene. The four adult defendants, who face a total of 47 years in prison if convicted of the three felonies and five misdemeanors, pled not guilty.
“The District Attorney’s office went berserk, saddling them with criminal charges including trying to incite a riot, even though the protesters were peaceful,” said Robert Knight, director of CWA’s Culture & Family Institute. “Their crime was to cite Bible verses, which a prosecutor called ‘hateful,’ and to urge homosexuals, like other sinners, to repent. It’s frightening to see religious persecution on American soil, especially in the birthplace of the Declaration of Independence. The Justice Department needs to step in and investigate this civil rights violation by the city of Philadelphia.”
It all began when 11 Christians from Repent America began preaching and singing at Outfest, a homosexual street event. The Christians, led by Repent America founder Michael Marcavage, were surrounded by the Pink Angels, a group of homosexuals who held up Styrofoam signs, blocking the group. Police arrested only the Christians.
After viewing a videotape of the incident at the December 14 hearing, Municipal Court Judge William Austin Meehan dropped charges against six other defendants, including a 72-year-old grandmother. A juvenile defendant awaits separate court action.
“The felony charges in particular are outrageous. We’re talking about expressing an opinion in a public area,” Knight said.
Good will be called evil and evil will be called good.
The council for the gays admitted that the pink barrier used to encircle the evangelicals was planned a year ahead of time. If this was coordinated with the DOJ to "corral and prosecute", you have a conspiracy to violate the 1st amendment rights of the evangelicals. COUNTER SUE! COUNTER SUE! COUNTER SUE!
They need to sue the city and the organizers for false charges and harrasement.
Right, the queers got what they wanted. The Christian group was thwarted in it's protest of the obscene parade and it's people were hauled into court and out of the way. I'm sure the prosecutors who initiated the outrageous arrests knew very well that the charges wouldn't stand up, but they also knew they could cause the Christians a lot of trouble and expense.
This was a clear case of abuse of authority by government agents to harass innocent citizens IMHO. I hope the Christian organization involved sues the city and the individual prosecutors, but in a liberal-infested city like Philly I doubt they could get a fair hearing in court.
That's interesting. Where did you read that? And according to the article, Philly is pretty much controlled by radical homos. I wonder to what extent that is?
And now for the end of the story.
Whatever happened to Sandy Berger?
Good News!
Now it is time to sue the DA and its ACLU thugs in civil court for damages. Maybe it can be a deep pocket suit to include the governmental agency the DA/ACLU thugs work for, the ACLU and the political party they belong to.
Right on with your post!
Have you read some of the first articles about this where the prosecutor said the scriptures were fighting words? Philly must be trying to be the SanFran of the East Coast.
I attempted to email the author of the article, copied and pasted the email addy...
liliatse@christianpost.com
and the message was just returned to me "user unknown" will try again and let you know if I get any response from CP.
It is time to prosecute the prosecutor on Federal Civil Rights charges.
Great news.
Looks like they're still trying to confirm this..
Judges don't "drop" charges. There must have been a motion filed and the judge granted the motion.
The MSM must be protecting the prosecutor involved because they are homosexuals.
He was on O'Reilly Tuesday night.
Good!
Notice how the MSM is protecting the homosexual attorneys.
BTW Judge don't drop charges, they must have been a motion filed by the defendant's attorneys. I hope they file false arrest charges because the Christians need to send a message to prevent this from ever happening again.
The prosecutors on the actual case may have been the same homosexuals.
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