There was a time in this nation, not too long ago, when a person’s right to faith was respected and protected by our law enforcement, because it is one of the planks of our national Constitution. Because the Constitution was understood and known by our populace, religious liberty, the freedom of expression, the right to keep and bear arms – to own firearms, freedom of assembly – religious or otherwise, the right to property, the right against unlawful and unreasonable searches and seizers, and every other right that was incumbent and technically still is to every American citizen – all birthrights under our Constitution, for which our Founding Fathers, and every generation of America’s military has fought and sacrificed to defend; has been through the tedious and tenious process of clever litigants in our courts and in our halls of congress in the passage of harmful legislation, and presidential executive orders – all of these have eroded these liberties in recent years.
Which brings US to the story of two men, who the People’s Republic of New Jersey, face jail to for exercising their right to free speech, their right to assemble, their right to religious liberty and the free and open expression of that right under our Constitution. Now a clever litigant (attorney) may argue that those rights don’t provide anyone a license to shout “fire” in a public place, and therefore its application must be tempered by context; that is to put into proper context the situation, the time, and the place of the alleged infraction of the alleged law that is being violated of which these two gentlemen are being charged.
A counter-argument might be posited that if the argument is based on putting the incident within its proper context of place, time of incident, and place of incident; it cannot be argued by the prosecution that these men violated any law, and the analogy used of someone irresponsibly shouting “Fire!” in a crowded public place does not apply, because the two gentlemen did not engage in this type of activity when they were arrested, nor was the content of what they were saying be termed “irresponsible.” They were exercising their right to public assembly, free speech, and religious liberty when they were arrested by two female police officers.
What’s more, for them to be charged with three offenses: defiant trespass, and two counts of obstruction for recording with a cell phone and declining to provide identification, are ludicrous charges, because they were not trespassing, they were at a public place; and they recorded with their cell phones for their own protection as evidence of what had transpired that day.
In the aftermath of the tragic incident of September 11th, 2000, we have been seeing an increased tendency towards a police state mentality towards law enforcement, where the police now arrest people for filming an arrest. One woman was inside her property, standing in her yard filming an arrest being made in front of her property, and she was dragged from her home in handcuffs.
Now in the police state of New Jersey, we are seeing incidents like the one in the story which follows, and we are witnessing the courts upholding their interpretation of law in each case supporting the arresting police officer/s regardless of the merits or demerits of the arrest being made. The time has come that a person can be arrested for expressing their religious beliefs, in this case the practice of evangelization as commanded by the Lord Jesus Christ to every believing Christian – every true follower to do. That this has happened and has happened in America, is an indication of just how far our great nation has fallen.
West Windsor, New Jersey – Two Christian evangelists that were arrested in New Jersey last June after preaching the Gospel at a local train station are still facing jail time as their ongoing trial has been continued in municipal court.
Robert Parker and Don Karns state that they have been preaching at the Princeton Junction train station in West Windsor for several years, which is a part of the New Jersey Transit system, a provider of public transportation. As previously reported, last summer, after they had finished preaching and witnessing to those waiting for trains, and were leaving, the men were approached by Sergeant Kathleen Shanahan and Officer Sandy Crowe.
Parker and Karns said that Shanahan, who demanded identification, was “extremely hostile,” and claimed that the evangelists had violated the law for speaking at the train station without a permit. The evangelists attempted to record the encounter with their cell phones, but were ordered to turn them off.
“[Sergeant Shanahan] started repeatedly saying, ‘Put the phone down; put the phone down,’” Karns recounted. “You guys are big guys, and I’m just a little officer. You know how scary it is when you have a camera in your hand. How do I know you’re not terrorists? I have no way of knowing that’s not a bomb.”
“They’re being trained that a camera is a weapon,” Parker advised with concern. “So now, they’re going to say that your phone is a weapon and you can’t use it anymore. That is the new tactic.”
While Parker provided identification to the officers, Karns asserted his right to privacy. The men were then taken into custody and transported to be booked and charged. After spending three hours in jail, they were leveled with three offenses: defiant trespass, and two counts of obstruction for recording with a cell phone and declining to provide identification.
This week, Parker and Karns stood trial in municipal court before Judge Kenneth W. Lozier as part of a continuation that has been ongoing for several months. Parker told Christian News Network that much of the testimony of the police officers was false and was made to portray them as possible terrorists.
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“[Shanahan said] we were overdressed on a hot day, which she said was 90 degrees, which is a lie,” he stated. “We were there early in the morning.”
“She said we had bulging pockets, and that she was very intimidated,” Parker continued. “She said Don wasn’t filming the right way, and the way he was holding [his phone] looked like he was grabbing his fist like he was going to do something.”
He noted that a police officer that had approached him in 2009 at the train station was also summoned by the prosecution to testify. The officer was asked on the stand if he had told Parker never to return without a permit. He replied in the affirmative. Parker explained that at this point, his attorney asked to show a video of what happened that day.
“This is where the police officer started getting nervous,” Parker said. “The prosecution jumped up and tried to stop it.”
“The video just breaks it all down,” he continued. “So, he got caught lying on the stand.”
Later during the trial, the attorney for the evangelists requested a complete dismissal of the charges, but Judge Lozier only threw out one charge, which pertained to obstruction for recording with a cell phone.
“[The judge] wouldn’t dismiss the defiant trespass charge,” Parker said. “I think he was seeing through some of the lies, but I was disappointed that he didn’t dismiss it all.”
Attorneys for Parker and Karns now have 30 days to file written argument with the court and to schedule a date for closing statements.
The men still face possible fines and jail time if they are found guilty of the remaining obstruction and trespassing charges.
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