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To: connectthedots

"Thought I read that the charges were dismissed."

I'm trying to find out for sure.


18 posted on 01/08/2005 5:30:16 PM PST by Cedar
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To: All

The articles I've found on google so far seem to all say that charges were dropped just against seven people, but four people were still charged.

Here is a quote from an article by Michael J. Gaynor, written January 6, 2005:

"Last October 10, eleven Christians associated with 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.

Last month, after viewing a videotape of the incident, Municipal Court Judge William Austin Meehan dropped charges against six other defendants, including a 72-year-old grandmother.

The eleventh, a juvenile, is awaiting separate court action.

The Philadelphia city prosecutor in the case, Charles Ehrlich, called the defendants "hateful" and referred to preaching the Bible as "fighting words."

The four adult defendants face a total of 47 years in prison if convicted of the three felonies and five misdemeanors with which they were charged.

They pled not guilty.

According to Mr. Knight: “The felony charges in particular are outrageous. We’re talking about expressing an opinion in a public area. This shows why ‘hate crime’ laws are a threat to the freedoms of speech and assembly, and are a tool for crushing Christian evangelism.” (end of quoted Gaynor material).

Another Jan. 6 article, found at the Christian Post, states basically the same thing, that four people are still facing charges. Here is the link for that article:

http://www.christianpost.com/article/society/1303/section/christians.arrested.for.protesting.homosexual.street.fair.now.acquitted/1.htm

I'll keep searching to see if something else is more recent.


20 posted on 01/08/2005 6:00:55 PM PST by Cedar
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