Posted on 06/05/2007 7:59:12 PM PDT by TornadoAlley3
A Kansas woman was arrested Tuesday after she had her 10-year-old son stomp on an American flag.
Shirley L. Phelps-Roper, 49, of Topeka, was protesting at the Bellevue funeral of Spc. William Bailey with a group from Westboro Baptist Church. The church, founded by her father, has protested at the funerals of numerous soldiers.
Bellevue Police Capt. Herb Evers said an officer saw a young boy stomping on an American flag.
Phelps-Roper was then cited for contributing to the delinquency of a minor and desecration of a flag. Both are misdemeanors. She was released from Sarpy County Jail after posting 10 percent of a $1,500 bond.
She has a July 11 court date scheduled.
A 1977 state law prohibits desecration of the flag: "A person commits the offense of mutilating a flag if such person intentionally casts contempt or ridicule upon a flag by mutilating, defacing, defiling, burning, or trampling upon such flag."
Phelps-Roper, who is an attorney, acknowledged that she allowed her 10-year-old son, Jonah, to stand on the flag ? an action she says is protected by the U.S. Constitution.
In 1990, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a federal law that outlawed burning the American flag.
"Punishing desecration of the flag dilutes the very freedom that makes this emblem so revered," the court said.
Sarpy County Attorney Lee Polikov said he is considering filing additional charges of child abuse and disturbing the peace. He is also looking at the correlation between hate crimes and hate speech and her acts.
Polikov said the mother interjected the boy into a volatile situation and thinks the group may have crossed the line to using fighting words toward the families of soldiers, which he said would not be protected under freedom of speech.
Phelps-Roper offered justification for the act.
"Every symbol of the rebellious, doomed America must necessarily be disrespected," she said. "The thing they worship, the flag, is worthless. It's a piece of cloth."
She said the Nebraska statute forbidding flag mutilation should have been repealed years ago.
"Those rogue cops cooked up this scheme," she said, "and now the question is whether the person who sits in the office of the prosecutor has character. If they pursue this, our next stop will be federal court in Nebraska to challenge that unconstitutional statute."
Polikov said the charges he will be filing are for strategic reasons, not gamesmanship.
"We won't shy away from desecration of the flag because of freedom of speech," he said. "We will get a new ruling on these charges. We will file every charge we think we can prove."
How nice. The trash Phelps family is spreading the hate to a 3rd generation.
Call Child Protective Services on this animal. She’s not fit to raise a dog, much less a child. No offense to dogs.
Good deal. This bunch of asshats need to be arrested every day
Perhaps the ugliest woman, both inside and out, I've ever seen.
.......
Al Bore’s pals strike again.
Let’s hope the prosecution is successful and that the next step will be getting Ms. Phelps-Roper disbarred. That should slow down WBC’s #1 source of funds...suing its opponents.
Wow.
Folks, I am ready to accept the fact that these people are part of an extended psychology experiment to determine how far society will let people go before everyone else breaks and pummels them to within an inch of their lives.
Can people be this hateful?
Never mind. I answered my own question.
These Phelps wackos are going to burn in hell.
They are NOT Christians.
I can think of a few other things I’d to see happen to these commies other than being arrested.
I’ve been saying that for a long time. IMHO these people are a cult & a dangerous one. I think by taking their small children to these protests, they are possibly endangering them. The hate they spew is certainly not healthy for a child.
I think most of Fred Phelps’ kids are lawyers. Fred himself was disbarred years ago.
ping
Good treatment of Al Gore’s friends.
Pity the poor soul that had to tap that at 39 to get “it” knocked up. Yuck.
They spawn.
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