Judge: Christians' civil rights claims have standing
Charlie Butts - OneNewsNow - 2/14/2012 3:30:00 AM
Rob Muise of the American Freedom Law Center (AFLC) says the Christians' only "crime" was sharing the gospel at the festival.
"The four Christians were arrested and jailed … in 2010, the summer before last, and they actually had to go through a criminal trial," he reports. "I defended them in the criminal trial. They were acquitted of the charges of breach of the peace. We turned around and filed a civil rights lawsuit against the city" (see earlier story).
The city had argued that the police officers who arrested the missionaries had probable cause based on a complaint from a festival worker that immunized Dearborn and the individuals from civil suit. Officials asked U.S. District Court Judge Stephen J. Murphy, III in Detroit to let them off the hook, but that request was denied.
"That means the most egregious of the constitutional civil rights violation claims are going to go forward against the City of Dearborn -- those being the unlawful arrests, the unlawful detention, the fact that [the Christians] were jailed for an evening unlawfully, as well as the violation of their First Amendment rights on the first day of that Arab festival in 2010," Muise explains.
When the case goes to trial, the AFLC attorney will ask for an injunction to stop the "harassing treatment" of his clients at future Arab festivals, plus damages and attorneys' fees. Muise says free speech must be protected, even if it is not appreciated by others.
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