Preachers Acquitted by Superior Court Judge

“A Superior Court judge in California has acquitted two men of charges filed after they were caught by officers reading a Bible aloud near a line of people waiting to enter a state driver’s license office in Hemet, Calif. Attorneys for the defendants said the state was required under state law, Title 13, Section 1860 of the California Administrative Code to show that the defendants were engaged in a ‘demonstration or gathering.’ But Judge Timothy Freer concluded there was not enough evidence to reach that conclusion. ‘The prosecution failed to meet its burden of proof that our clients committed a crime when they read the Bible aloud in front [of] a line of people,’ said Robert Tyler, general counsel for Advocates for Faith & Freedom, which worked on the case. Nic Cocis, co-counsel for the defense, said: ‘These men were exercising their First Amendment right of free speech. They were simply sharing their faith on public property and the criminal charges should never have been filed.’... Cocis, who emigrated from Romania at the age of 13 when the nation still was controlled by a communist regime, said: ‘This case has particular importance to me because my family was persecuted for our Christian faith in communist Romania, and I will fight to protect the freedom of speech and to ensure that the same persecution doesn't occur in the United States.’”

(“Verdict in for Pastor,” WorldNetDaily, Aug. 14, 2013)

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