After over a year in the court system,
the Prosecutors of the Florence Five have refused to further prosecute the
case! Click
HERE to see the
original story of our arrests.
This decision stems from a Federal Court Ruling issued this past May which declared the permit laws of Charleston and Traveler's Rest, SC. to be unconstitutional. The suit was brought by pro-lifers who had been with us on the previous year's South Carolina Show the Truth Tour, and had had one of our signs confiscated by Police, and had been threatened with arrest under local permit laws.
August 14th, 2002, five people were arrested in
Florence for daring to hold up pictures of aborted children on their public
sidewalks, after refusing to sign a "parade permit". Steve Lefemine,
director of Columbia (SC) Christians for Life; Denny Green, Director of Life
& Liberty Ministries in Petersburg Virginia; Dave Lytle, and 83-year-old
veteran who has was active in Operation Rescue from Lynchburg,VA; Linda
Beckman, a 63-year old woman from Phoenixville, PA; and Bruce Evan Murch of
Full Quiver Mission were handcuffed, brought to County Jail, and transported
to court in leg irons and belly-chains. They were released on $5,000 signature
bond into the care of a local pro-life women.
After numerous delays (which turned out to be heaven-sent), trial was set in July this year. At the trial, the attorney requested that the judge revisit her ruling Florence's parade permit order IS constitutional, in light of a new Federal Court ruling that had recently been handed down (during all the delays of our trial). That decision found that the permit laws of two other South Carolina cities were unconstitutional and were a prior restraint on free speech.
The Judge stopped the trial and requested that our attorney re-file his motion for dismissal with the new information, and that the prosecution answer the new brief. After reading the new brief, the State declined to file a brief in answer, and the charges were "nol-prossed". This is short for "nolo prosequi", which means in Latin "no prosecution".
The Florence Five have already begun the process of suing the City in Federal Court, and are considering what our next step is. Although a victory, since there was no court decision, there is really nothing stopping the City from continuing to arrest protestors and just dropping the charges later, meting their punishment out right on the street. We will decide our next step in the coming months. We DO plan a stop in Florence on the coming South Carolina Tour October 22-25. Contact us if you wish to join us on that tour.
IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO HELP FULL QUIVER MISSION AND THE MURCH FAMILY AS THEY CONTINUE IN THE WORK, PLEASE CLICK THE "CONTACT US" LINK ABOVE FOR DETAILS. MAY JESUS' NAME BE MAGNIFIED IN ALL WE DO!