Pro-life Christians harrassed, arrested, and chased out of CT

[lifeandliberty]

In July of 2004, LLM's Truth Truck was pulled over by a Connecticut State Police Officer. This out-of-control Officer demanded that I immediately remove the pro-life messages that were displayed on the truck. He then proceeded to arrest my passenger, Michael Marcavage, charging him with two fabricated crimes. Then I was instructed to leave the State immediately or risk arrest myself.

Today we received word that the prosecutor was no longer pursuing the case against Michael and entered a nolle prosequi.

Nolle Prosequi defined:
Latin for "we shall no longer prosecute." At trial, this is an entry made on the record by a prosecutor in a criminal case stating that he will no longer pursue the matter. An entry of nolle prosequi may be made at any time after charges are brought and before a verdict is returned or a plea entered. Essentially, it is an admission on the part of the prosecution that some aspect of its case against the defendant has fallen apart. Most of the time, prosecutors need a judge’s permission to “nol-pros” a case.

Click on the link for more information on this case.
www.lifeandlibertyministries.com (http://www.lifeandlibertyministries.com)

[DoctorDoom]

Some people shouldn't have badges due to the power trips that they evoke.

Connecticut is a typical New England liberalooney bin, but at least the prosecutor had a shred of sense and realized that the state would become a joke if the insanity were allowed to go to court.

[Republican_Legion]

its a good thing i dont live in CT , i would have fought back against anti-freedom of speech officers . thats why i dont have pro-life stickers , i just might kick someones ass if they threaten me .

[ThomasMore]

In July of 2004, LLM's Truth Truck was pulled over by a Connecticut State Police Officer. This out-of-control Officer demanded that I immediately remove the pro-life messages that were displayed on the truck. He then proceeded to arrest my passenger, Michael Marcavage, charging him with two fabricated crimes. Then I was instructed to leave the State immediately or risk arrest myself.

Today we received word that the prosecutor was no longer pursuing the case against Michael and entered a nolle prosequi.

Nolle Prosequi defined:
Latin for "we shall no longer prosecute." At trial, this is an entry made on the record by a prosecutor in a criminal case stating that he will no longer pursue the matter. An entry of nolle prosequi may be made at any time after charges are brought and before a verdict is returned or a plea entered. Essentially, it is an admission on the part of the prosecution that some aspect of its case against the defendant has fallen apart. Most of the time, prosecutors need a judge’s permission to “nol-pros” a case.

Click on the link for more information on this case.
www.lifeandlibertyministries.com (http://www.lifeandlibertyministries.com)

Interesting. Every state has civil rights laws, as does the federal government. Based on what you have described, your Officer Unfriendly might have violated some of those laws.

You might consider a legal action against the officer, and the department.

Here is why I recommend at least looking into it:

Harrassment against Christians is increasing, and Christians are being marginalized and discriminated against more and more.

Our legal system is based on using precedent from prior cases. The decisions of all cases are recorded, and if they survive an appeal or appear before the state's Supreme Court, the judges' decisions and reasoning are published. When a similar case arises again, the lawyers will review the cases which were already decided, and use that precedent as guidance. The judges are required to consider what prior courts have said when issuing their own decisions -- their discretion is not absolute. (This is why Roe v. Wade is such a bad deal. Judges are required to base their own decisions on the provisions decided in that case.)

Every court decision which uses the civil rights laws to protect Christians from harrassment, discrimination or violations of law as other groups have done before, starts or helps develop a body of law to protect other Christians. One victory can help give the next Christian who is persecuted a stronger legal foundation to work from.

Many in the general public are uninformed about persecution against Christians, and are immersed in a popular culture which believes that persecution against women or minorities is a regular and evil occurrence, but that Christians who complain of persecution are either hypersensitive whiners or liars -- that Christians are not a persecuted group. Court cases awarding judgments in favor of Christians against their persecutors gives Christian press and other press objective information to get the word out, and even the local mainstream press may sometimes take the side of the "hated Christians" against the equally "hated cops." But decisions like this give the message an opportunity to get out. This can help give other Christians more credibility if they, too, complain of harrassment.

There are many people who believe they can attack Christians with impunity, and some feel virtuous about doing so. Seeing others suffer legal consequences for doing so may give some of them pause. One case alone may have only a minor effect. But many cases over many years can have a much stronger, cumulative effect.

Even Paul appealed to Caesar. Chuck Colson (http://www.pfm.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=BreakPoint_Commentaries1&TEMPLATE=/CM/ContentDisplay.cfm&CONTENTID=17294) recently wrote about when Christians should pursue legal protections, and how they should go about it, on his Prison Fellowship Ministries website.

There are a number of public interest law firms which protect the rights of Christians. A good starting point is The Thomas More Law Center (http://www.thomasmore.org/) (no, I am not affiliated). Its mission statement is here (http://www.thomasmore.org/mission-defending.html).

Hope this helps.