Posted on 01/07/2005 8:43:57 AM PST by tutstar
Prosecutors continue to press felony charges against 4 Christian men and one juvenile for their activities at Philadelphia’s OutFest in October. The group was organized by Repent America, a Philadelphia-based evangelism ministry. Robert Knight, director of CWA’s Culture & Family Institute, says the Department of Justice (DOJ) should intervene in this case, but there is troubling news from WorldNet Daily that such help may not be offered.
Says the only pushing and shoving was done by the Pink Angels, none of whom were arrested.
Philly pastors are silent on the issue!
If allowed to continue as is, will be a warning to Christians to keep your opinions to yourself!
Charges were dismissed today.
ping---
The previous thread mentioned CWA so I checked their site and this looks to me like more accurate than the other article we've been posting about.
Do you have a link?
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1315836/posts
Christians, Arrested for Protesting Homosexual Street Fair, Now Acquitted
Christian Post ^ | 1/6/05 | Lilia Tse
Posted on 01/07/2005 1:55:20 AM CST 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.
Where? You need to provide a link. One of the accused made a post here yesterday that they have to appear in court next week, I think he'd know. Neither has anything been posted to his site yet.
This thread is intended to dispel the inaccuracy in the article posted here......http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1315836/posts
Link at #5
Ping
It's all moot. Charges were dropped, as I expected. Stupid cops and DA, but a judge just dropped the charges.
An article from the 5th is more recent than one from the 6th?
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.
Including the juvenile there are 5 people who still have charges pending.
I see all of this is Dec news and not Jan news..sorry for the error.
Says the only pushing and shoving was done by the Pink Angels, none of whom were arrested.
So...are they going to arrest the pushers and the shovers?
This was posted by one of the accused yesterday....he has not posted any update on his site......the writer of the article contradicted herself. Compare the first and last paragraph. I sent an email to the author and it was returned as "user unknown", I've sent the same email to all the contacts for Christian Post and haven't received a reply. CWA certainly would have updated their site by now if the charges had been dropped....you can check post #49 in the other thread and see that nothing is listed regarding this matter for the court schedule.
U.S. attorneys complicit in arrest of Christians?
Posted by 4lifeandliberty to StonyBurk
On News/Activism 01/06/2005 11:53:34 AM EST · 56 of 64
We (the Philadelphia 4) had to show up in court on Wednesday jan. 5 to find out when our court date was scheduled for. I, and another of our group had to drive all the way from VA. Once we got there, the court tells us they haven'y set the date yet and we will have to come back next week. Philly is just jerking us around at this point. On Jan. 12, we will find out when the trial will be.
I'm keeping the latest updates posted on our site at:
www.lifeandlibertyministries.com
"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.
Including the juvenile there are 5 people who still have charges pending.
"
No longer. The first part of the article involves the dropping of charges for the four other adults. Charges were dropped on Dec. 14 for the other six.
The juvenile will be handled in juvenile court, where his charges will no doubt be dropped too.
Again:
FACT: Charges against 6 of the defendants were dropped on December 14.
FACT: Charges against the other 4 adults were dropped in another courtroom later.
FACT: The juvenile's charges will be dealt with in juvenile court, and will no doubt be dropped as well.
This incident is now over, as far as the legal system is concerned. They never should have been arrested in the first place, and now they are no longer charged.
You have to read the entire article, which first says that charges were dropped against four defendants. Later it says that charges against ANOTHER 6 defendants were dropped on 12/14. The juvenile is the only one left.
After reading the article from the 5th, I was wondering about the juvenile. Now apparently there are 4 others still with charges pending! What kind of reporting did that "Christian Post" do anyway? The way their article is written, one comes away thinking this is all over, basically.
Thanks for posting this! Not until every person involved is completely cleared, and the irresponsible DA's brought up for malicious prosecution, should this story die here on FR.
http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/1/42005a.asp
I remember seeing this ..
'Philly 4' Case Hits Prime Time with O'Reilly
Attorney for Christians Calls Incident Clear Case of 'Anti-Christian Bigotry'
By Ed Thomas and Jody Brown
snip
The AFA attorney implied much is at stake in the case. "Forty-seven years in prison for preaching the gospel?" he asked. "This is a historic case. This is the natural evolution of the systematic removal of the symbols of Christianity from the public square."
According to Volz, the eleven Christians were arrested in October not for preaching the gospel, but for refusing to abide by the rules established by local law enforcement authorities. He stated he did not expect the maximum sentence to be handed down. "They might get six to twelve months probation," he said. "Nobody's going to jail for 47 years."
Fahling says his group is planning to ask for an investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice into the case.
#17
I'm on the phone now trying to get through to info line in the DA's office in Philly, just ringing like 50 times.I'll try again after lunch hour.
The Christian Post Company does not have a phone number listed in Netscape Yellow Pages, if anyone can come up with a phone number I'll call them. So far they haven't answered my emails.
I called and left a message for the man who posted yesterday about having to appear in court next week. Iasked if he will reply to my pings here.
Anyone on FR knows that there are plenty of bad reporters out there, and there is only one article to be found on the internet saying the charges were dropped. Try googling it, the only article is the one that can't be verified.
I for one am trying to get to the bottom of it.
Check again here for links to O'Reilly interview..I saw it ..4 are still charged. I had forgotten about the show as I was distracted by other things while it was on.
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