Open and Shut Case

This Is Ben Ladin As A Zombie. I Am A Coward. During a Halloween parade, a man dressed as a zombie who also represented the Prophet Mohammed was attacked by a Muslim man watching the parade with his son. You would think that the fact the man confessed would make this an open and shut case of assault. You would think that the fact the incident was videotaped would make this an open and shut case of assault. You would think that the fact a policeman saw the incident would make this an open and shut case of assault. You would be wrong. 

Here is what the judge said:

Having had the benefit of having spent over 2 and a half years in predominantly Muslim countries I think I know a little bit about the faith of Islam. In fact I have a copy of the Koran here and I challenge you sir to show me where it says in the Koran that Mohammad arose and walked among the dead. I think you misinterpreted things. Before you start mocking someone else’s religion you may want to find out a little bit more about it it makes you look like a dufus and Mr. (Defendant) is correct. In many Arabic speaking countries something like this is definitely against the law there. In their society in fact it can be punishable by death and it frequently is in their society

The judge had this to say:

... he has not proven to me beyond a reasonable doubt that this defendant is guilty of harassment, therefore I am going to dismiss the charge.

The judge threw out the video tape of the incident, he ignored the testimony of police. Why did he do this? Could his religious beliefs have had anything to do with it?

Then what you have done is you have completely trashed their essence, their being. They find it very very very offensive. I’m a Muslim, I find it offensive. But you have that right, but you’re way outside your boundaries or first amendment rights. This is what, and I said I spent about 7 and a half years living in other countries. when we go to other countries it’s not uncommon for people to refer to us as ugly Americans this is why we are referred to as ugly Americans, because we are so concerned about our own rights we don’t care about other people’s rights as long as we get our say but we don’t care about the other people’s say.

The judge's opinion is that if someone offends you, you have the right to beat them up. While there is a legal tradition of what is called "fighting words," modern courts have mostly rejected this. 

While the fear of Sharia Law is to a large degree hysteria, there are cases like this that have me scratching my head. 

While this video has a little historical revisionism at the beginning (the separation of Church and State is not in the constitution), it contains an audio of the judge's decision. 

Comments

[Eddie H. Nessul]

Your post is very harassing about us who want to harass people who are harassing us.

Eddie H. Nessul
Amboy , California

(Read Names Backwards!)