Terry Jones refuses to pay bond; jury to decide Friday about Dearborn rally bid
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Florida pastor Terry Jones will face a jury trial on Friday after a Dearborn judge sided with Wayne County prosecutors and Dearborn police who were trying to make him pay a bond in order to rally in Dearborn.
At a hearing today, Judge Mark Somers gave Jones a choice: either pay a bond or face a jury trial on whether he must pay a bond.
Jones refused and will now face a trial, Somers ruled. By the end of the day, a jury of six plus one alternate was selected. The trial is scheduled to start Friday morning.
Jones told the court he was concerned the delay might prevent him from his attempt to rally at 5 p.m. Friday outside a mosque. He called the trial another way to deprive him of his rights.
After the hearing concluded, Jones spoke to a crush of reporters, saying he's concerned about "the radical element in Islam." As he spoke, a group of Muslims began yelling at him.
Leyla Abdul-Ghani yelled, "Shame on you. We are decent, hard-working people."
Samira Hider, who came with her family to protest Jones, shouted, "Have you read the Quran?"
Her son Mohamed, 10, held up a poster that read, "Don't burn the Quran. Terry Jones has to go."
Earlier, wearing a faded black leather jacket, Jones entered the courtroom with a crowd of media following.
He appeared in court along with Pastor Wayne Sapp, who burned a Quran last month in Florida under Jones' supervision, setting off violent protests in the Muslim world. Jones intends to protest Friday at the Islamic Center of America, the biggest mosque in Dearborn. ACLU: Jones has right to protest at Dearborn mosque
Earlier, the ACLU of Michigan and others slammed local authorities for trying to deny Jones the right to protest outside the Islamic Center of America in Dearborn.
The ACLU said that authorities are denying Jones? Constitutional rights.
The government should ?not impinge on a person?s right to protest, even when their speech is as distasteful and offensive as Rev. Jones? is,? said Rana Elmir, communications director for the Michigan ACLU. ?We should combat hate speech with more speech. I disagree vehemently with Rev. Jones? message, but I believe wholeheartedly in his right to express himself.?
Dearborn Police Chief Ron Haddad said that there are logistical and security problems to having Jones protest outside the Islamic Center of America, noting that he has received numerous death threats and has a $1.2-million bounty on his head from a Pakistan-based terrorist group. Moreover, the mosque is surrounded by several churches that have Good Friday services, making traffic an issue, he argued.
But Elmir said:
?We can?t forget both religious freedom and the right to protest. The city of Dearborn should honor both of those rights equally.?
Elmir said that Dearborn has had issues in previous cases of denying a person?s right to protest.
She added that the ACLU is concerned about anti-Muslim hate speech and discrimination, but said that the solution is not censorship.
?The government can not silence demonstrations in anticipation that their message will not be welcomed.?
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I'll believe corporations are persons when Texas executes one.: LBJ's Ghost
A New Jersey Transit worker fired for burning a copy of the Koran near Ground Zero last Sept. 11 is getting his job back? and an extra $25,000 for his troubles.
Derek Fenton, 40, who was fired on Sept. 13, 2010 a day after torching the Muslim holy book at the site of a proposed Islamic center near the former site of the World Trade Center, is set to return to his $86,110-a-year job and receive $25,000 for pain and suffering as well as $331 in back pay for everyday since his dismissal, the Newark Star Ledger reported.
New Jersey Transit also has to pay the ACLU $25,000 in legal fees for bringing the suit on Fenton?s behalf, according to the settlement.
Fenton, who wasn't working that day, was there to mark the ninth anniversary of the attacks on the World Trade Center. His protest received national attention as well as criticism from New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie who supported his firing.
"Our government cannot pick and choose whose free speech rights are protected, based on whether or not they approve of the content of our statements or actions," Fenton said in a statement. "This is the very essence of the First Amendment."
Can this be the first shot in a war between the Guidos & the Religious Right for the right to act like muslimaniacs?
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I'll believe corporations are persons when Texas executes one.: LBJ's Ghost
His penalty should be to be shipped to Afghanistan and burn a copy of the Koran in the streets..The pieces will fall where they will then..He's human refuge anyways..
I hope he stays in court tied up with legal issues.
He has no money unless funding materialized recently. I really doubt he will survive long. They kill Danes so Muttonchops may become a martyr of the religious fringe.
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I'll believe corporations are persons when Texas executes one.: LBJ's Ghost
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