*Faith Under Fire

'Why does Florida prosecute people who hand out Bibles?'*

Posted: April 20, 2007

Two members of Gideons International who were arrested in Florida for
handing out Bibles on a public sidewalk are battling a second round of
charges, after the initial trespassing charges against them were
dismissed, but authorities filed a new set.

"Why is Florida so interested in prosecuting people who hand out
Bibles?" asked the Alliance Defense Fund, which is working on the case
for the two volunteers. "Does the state now believe that its citizens
will be safer if 'protected' from Bibles? In a country founded on
religious freedom, the actions of the State are a disgrace."

Officials with the law firm have confirmed that they now have filed a
new motion to dismiss the new charges facing the Gideons for their work
in Key Largo.

As was reported earlier, Anthony Mirto and Ernest Simpson of Monroe
County were arrested, charged with trespassing, and booked into jail
after the school principal called police while the two men were
distributing copies of the Bible on a public sidewalk earlier this year.

They were verbally assaulted and badgered by the arresting officer,
according to court filings in the case, and sustained injury to their
wrists when he handcuffed them with their hands behind their backs and
detained them in a closed, un-air conditioned car for nearly an hour in
90-degree heat.

Key Largo School Principal Annette Martinson

"Following the initial motion to dismiss filed by ADF attorneys, the
state dismissed the charges but then filed new ones under a different
statute," the ADF said.

"The distribution of Bibles on a public sidewalk is not a criminal
offense," said ADF Senior Legal Counsel David Cortman. "The attempts by
Florida officials to continue pressing for the prosecution of Mr. Mirto
and Mr. Simpson is not only blatantly unconstitutional, it borders on
religious persecution."

The incident developed Jan. 19, when the two men were distributing
Bibles on a public sidewalk outside Key Largo School but did not step
onto school grounds, the ADF said. Both men were arrested, booked, and
charged with trespassing after the school's principal called police. On
March 8, ADF attorneys filed a motion to dismiss and the state did
dismiss those counts.

However, it filed new charges under a different law that prohibits
anyone from being within 500 feet of any school property, including on
public sidewalks and streets, without having either "legitimate
business" or permission, the ADF said.

"The facts are clear: Mr. Mirto and Mr. Simpson are guilty of nothing
more than peacefully exercising their First Amendment rights," Cortman
said. "For whatever reason, the state is grasping at straws in order to
justify the punishment of these men."

The state of Florida is now in the "untenable position of trying to
justify the punishment of fundamental First Amendment activities in a
quintessential traditional public forum," the law firm said. Under U.S.
Supreme Court precedents over the last century, that is a "blatant
violation of their constitutional rights."

On the face of the statute cited by the prosecutor, people driving by
the school on the highway technically are in violation of the law,
unless they have an exemption, and if the same exemption doesn't apply
to the two members of Gideons International, then that creates a
content-based speech restriction, which also isn't proper, Cortman said.

In fact, if anyone may have stepped beyond the law, the filing suggests,
it was the arresting officer from the Monroe County sheriff's office.

"There was no call for Officer [John] Perez's angry demeanor, his
inappropriate handling of the situation, his abusive treatment of the
Gideons, his stopping and arresting them while they were in the process
of leaving, his unnecessary towing of the car (parked where many other
cars were parked), his handcuffing the men behind their backs, his
leaving them cramped in a hot car for nearly an hour (which should never
be done to animals, never mind to human beings), nor his mocking the
Gideons' religious beliefs stating 'now you can pray to Jesus all the
way to jail,'" the ADF said.

The new motion seeks to dismiss the new counts in "State of Florida v.
Simpson" and "State of Florida v. Mirto."

In a statement at the outset of the case, Becky Herrin, of the public
information office in the Monroe County sheriff's office, stated as a
fact that the defendants in the case did trespass. She later declined
additional comment.

"A copy of our police report (see attached) … clearly states that the
people in question were arrested for trespassing on school property –
not on a public sidewalk… In fact, they were given the opportunity to
step off school property and onto public property, and they could have
continued with their activities if they had done so. They chose instead
to remain, against repeated warnings, on school property so deputies
were forced to arrest them," Herrin said in a statement.

But the report revealed the two were arrested while in their vehicle
parked near, but not on, school property.

The Gideons, a group founded in the late 1800s, has as its "sole
purpose" the goal "to win men, women, boys and girls to a saving
knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ through association for service,
personal testimony, and distributing the Bible in the human traffic
lanes and streams of everyday life."

Members of the Gideons, who pay their own expenses so 100 percent of the
donations to the group go toward Bible purchases and distributions, have
placed the Bible in 181 nations in 82 different languages over the years.

The organization focuses on hotels and motels, hospitals and nursing
homes, schools, colleges and universities, the military and law
enforcement and prisons and jails.

"The demand for Scriptures in these areas far exceeds our supplies that
we are able to purchase through our donations. Much more could be done –
if funds were available. However, we are placing and distributing more
than 1 million copies of the Word of God, at no cost, every seven days
in these areas…" the group said.

The organization only gives away the Bibles with the Gideon logo on the
covers, but plain Bibles are available for consumers to purchase at its
distribution center at P.O. Box 140800, Nashville, Tenn., 37214-0800.
Information about the products is available on the group's website.

The Gideons serve as an extended missionary arm of the Christian church
and are the oldest Christian business and professional men's association
in the United States.