Posted on 02/17/2005 9:55:43 AM PST by 26lemoncharlie
TESTING THE FAITH Judge drops all charges against Philly Christians Adults who evangelized at homosexual event vindicated, teen girl likely off hook tomorrow
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Posted: February 17, 2005 12:33 p.m. Eastern
© 2005 WorldNetDaily.com
In what is being hailed as a victory for free speech, a judge in Philadelphia today dismissed all criminal charges against four Christians who were arrested for evangelizing at an outdoor homosexual event.
Judge Pamela Dembe of the Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas dismissed the charges, saying that she found no basis whatsoever for any of them.
"We are one of the very few countries that protects unpopular speech," Dembe said after viewing a videotape of the arrests. As WorldNetDaily reported, on Oct. 10, a group of 11 Christians was "preaching God's Word" to a crowd of people attending the Philadelphia "OutFest" event and displaying banners with biblical messages.
After a confrontation with a group called the Pink Angels, described by protesters as "a militant mob of homosexuals," the Christians were arrested and spent a night in jail.
Eight charges were filed: criminal conspiracy, possession of instruments of crime, reckless endangerment of another person, ethnic intimidation, riot, failure to disperse, disorderly conduct and obstructing highways.
None of the Pink Angels was cited or arrested.
After a preliminary hearing in December, Judge William Austin Meehan ordered four of the Christians to stand trial on three felony and five misdemeanor charges. If convicted, each could have received a maximum of 47 years in prison. One female teenage protester faces charges in the juvenile justice system, but those charges likely will be dropped tomorrow.
"The judge saw this case for what it is," Joe Infranco, senior counsel for the Alliance Defense Fund, said in a statement. "This was the right response to an outrageous abuse of power to silence speech that some people didn't like.
"What took place here was a government crackdown on disfavored speech. The OutFest participants staged a national coming-out day on a public street using public funds, and then they tried to say it's a private event. That didn't make any sense, and neither did the actions of the police. …"
Dembe is the judge who last month removed the bail requirement that the defendants stay at least 100 feet away from any homosexual gathering.
BTTT
Now they're free to sue their attackers.
Now they should sue to recover their court and attorney fees.
YES! Thank you, Judge Dembe.
Take that homofacists!
Judge Pamela Dembe of the Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas dismissed the charges, saying that she found no basis whatsoever for any of them.
Thanks be to God. Now the next step is to make sure the DA that brought these charges loses his job.
Took the words out of my mouth, conservatives must become litigious and file suits at every turn. Fight fire with fire.
This is the best news of the day, now jailing the dements who filed charges should be in the near future (one can only wish).
YAY!!!!!!
I don't need a court order to keep me away!
Here's hoping.
Good news..!
This is outstanding. I wish I could say I'm not surprised, but after the first judge's reaction, I didn't know what to expect.
Will they sue? or turn the other cheek?
This is what I expected would happen. The system works.
Yes, the speech was so unpopular that our side lost all the gay "marriage" ballot measures last November, right? < /sarcasm>
Still, Judge Dembe's decision is right and we can be grateful for that.
I still want to know who the butt pirate Justice Dept attorneys were who were present that day and 'advised' the local DA on what charges to file
"ethnic intimidation" What pack of idiots passed that law? I cannot begin to count the number of times myself and others have been ethnicly intimidate because we are WASP's.
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