TPM
11-18-2003, 11:18 AM
Agapepress.org, November 18, 2003
...A Pennsylvania minister who was arrested for preaching on a public sidewalk has been acquitted -- but he feels his arresting officer may be the one who got convicted. The case involving field preacher Michael Marcavage of the Philadelphia-based group Repent America was dismissed after the arresting officer apparently chose not to testify and left the courtroom before the case was heard. On June 8, Marcavage was standing on the sidewalk preaching outside the Upper Darby High School during a post-prom party. Two police officers approached him and ordered him to stop preaching, and then a third officer, Sergeant L.M. Garble, pulled up in a squad car and ordered him to move across the street. Marcavage explained that he was sharing the Word with the students and that they would be unable to hear him if he moved across the four-lane street. He offered to move to another part of the sidewalk, to which Garble responded by threatening to arrest him. When Marcavage asked to know what the charge would be, the officer replied, "We'll find something," and proceeded to arrest the preacher and charge him with disorderly conduct. But when it came time for the case to be heard, Garble disappeared from the courtroom and the District Attorney informed the judge that the officer did not have a "vested interest in seeing [Marcavage] prosecuted." The street preacher's attorney, Len Brown, said "While I am thankful for the outcome ... it is disturbing to see the trend towards arresting individuals on public property who are engaging in protected speech." But Marcavage says he feels the arrest may have brought conviction to Sgt. Garble, who spoke kindly to him after releasing him from his cell and called his work "admirable." [Jenni Parker]
...A Pennsylvania minister who was arrested for preaching on a public sidewalk has been acquitted -- but he feels his arresting officer may be the one who got convicted. The case involving field preacher Michael Marcavage of the Philadelphia-based group Repent America was dismissed after the arresting officer apparently chose not to testify and left the courtroom before the case was heard. On June 8, Marcavage was standing on the sidewalk preaching outside the Upper Darby High School during a post-prom party. Two police officers approached him and ordered him to stop preaching, and then a third officer, Sergeant L.M. Garble, pulled up in a squad car and ordered him to move across the street. Marcavage explained that he was sharing the Word with the students and that they would be unable to hear him if he moved across the four-lane street. He offered to move to another part of the sidewalk, to which Garble responded by threatening to arrest him. When Marcavage asked to know what the charge would be, the officer replied, "We'll find something," and proceeded to arrest the preacher and charge him with disorderly conduct. But when it came time for the case to be heard, Garble disappeared from the courtroom and the District Attorney informed the judge that the officer did not have a "vested interest in seeing [Marcavage] prosecuted." The street preacher's attorney, Len Brown, said "While I am thankful for the outcome ... it is disturbing to see the trend towards arresting individuals on public property who are engaging in protected speech." But Marcavage says he feels the arrest may have brought conviction to Sgt. Garble, who spoke kindly to him after releasing him from his cell and called his work "admirable." [Jenni Parker]