-Caveat Lector-
Subject: WE WIN THE BIGGEST FREE SPEECH CASE IN HISTORY!!
Date: Wed, 28 Mar 2001 19:39:34 -0500
From: "Rev. Bruce Evan Murch" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Court Protects Abortion MD Protests Dear Friends, supporters, fellow
Christians, and those who have unwittingly found themselves on my email
list,
As most of you know, I have had a $5.9 million judgment hanging over my
head from a lawsuit against myself and 11 other people by Planned
Parenthood. The case has dragged on for over five years. I have not been
able to make any income without being forced to hand over 25% of it
directly to Planned Parenthood, which I would never do. I was under
court order not to spend money on ANYTHING except food and housing. That
includes bills and payments or anything not housing or food related.
TODAY WE WON OUR CASE IN THE U.S.COURT OF APPEALS!!
Planned Parenthood can still appeal, and they might. There are some
legal items to finish up, like the removal of the judgment, pending
their appeal, if they do.. But PRAISE GOD WE HAVE THE VICTORY!!
Bruce Evan Murch
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Court Protects Abortion MD Protests
By David Kravets
Associated Press Writer
Wednesday, March 28, 2001; 3:59 p.m. EST
SAN FRANCISCO -- A federal appeals court threw out a record $109
million verdict against anti-abortion activists Wednesday, ruling that a
Web site and wanted posters branding abortion doctors "baby butchers"
and criminals were protected by the First Amendment.
A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals
unanimously said the activists could be held liable only if the material
authorized or directly threatened violence.
The ruling came two years after a jury in Portland, Ore., ordered
a dozen abortion foes to pay damages to Planned Parenthood and four
doctors. They had sued under federal racketeering law and the 1994
federal law that makes it illegal to incite violence against abortion
doctors.
The case was widely seen as a test of a recent Supreme Court
ruling that said a threat must be explicit and likely to cause "imminent
lawless action."
"If defendants threatened to commit violent acts, by working alone
or with others, then their (works) could properly support the verdict,"
Circuit Judge Alex Kozinski wrote. "But if their (works) merely
encouraged unrelated terrorists, then their words are protected by the
First Amendment."
Planned Parenthood and the doctors were portrayed in the Old
West-style wanted posters as "baby butchers," and a Web site called the
"Nuremberg Files" listed the names and addresses of abortion providers
and declared them guilty of crimes against humanity.
The anti-abortion activists said their posters and Web site were
protected under the First Amendment because they were merely a list of
doctors and clinics - not a threat.
During the trial, U.S. District Judge Robert Jones instructed the
jury to consider the history of violence in the anti-abortion movement,
including three doctors killed after their names appeared on the lists.
One was Dr. Barnett Slepian, who was killed by a sniper in 1998 at
his home near Buffalo, N.Y. Slepian's name was crossed out on "The
Nuremberg Files" Web site later that same day.
Doctors who were on the list testified that they lived in constant
fear, used disguises, bodyguards and bulletproof vests, and instructed
their children to crouch in the bathtub if they heard gunfire.
The defendants maintained they were political protesters
collecting data on doctors in hopes of one day putting them on trial
like Nazi war criminals were at Nuremberg.
After the jury's verdict, the judge called the Web site and the
wanted posters "blatant and illegal communication of true threats to
kill."
The man who ran the Nuremberg Web site was not a defendant in the
lawsuit, but his Internet provider pulled the plug on the site after the
verdict.
Among the defendants was Michael Bray of Bowie, Md., author of a
book that justifies killing doctors to stop abortions. Bray went to
prison from 1985 to 1989 for his role in arson attacks and bombings of
seven clinics.
Another defendant was Cathy Ramey of Portland, an editor at Life
Advocate magazine and author of "In Defense of Others," which defends
people who refuse to condemn the killing of abortion providers.
Copyright 2001 The Associated Press
===================================================================
THIS MESSAGE POSTED APFN MESSAGE BOARD:
http://disc.server.com/discussion.cgi?id=149495&article=340
A LOOK BACK ON NUREMBERG:
http://www.courttv.com/casefiles/nuremberg/
<A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A>
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