By ROB HOTAKAINEN
The Star’s Washington correspondent
The Rev. Fred Phelps Sr. of Westboro Baptist Church.
BALTIMORE | After seven days, Maryland jurors smote the Westboro Baptist Church and its leaders Wednesday, awarding a grieving father nearly $11 million after anti-gay protests disturbed his Marine son’s funeral.
The father, Albert Snyder of York, Pa., sobbed when the verdict was read in U.S. District Court. Members of the Topeka church listened with tight-lipped smiles to the findings that they had invaded Snyder’s privacy with intent to inflict emotional distress.
Confident of his appeal, the Rev. Fred Phelps Sr. said: “Oh, it will take about five minutes to get that thing reversed.”
The federal jury first awarded $2.9 million in compensatory damages. It returned in the afternoon with its decision to award $6 million in punitive damages for privacy loss and $2 million for distress.
An attorney for Snyder had urged jurors to determine an amount “that says don’t do this in Maryland again. Do not bring your circus of hate to Maryland again.”
Another, Sean Summers, said he would tirelessly seek payment of the award from what he called a “71-member cult.”
Defense lawyer Jonathan Katz said the church is funded by tithing. Its assets and those of the three defendants are less than a million dollars and the compensatory award is about three times the defendants’ net worth, he said.
U.S. District Judge Richard Bennett agreed the award “far exceeds the net worth of the defendants,” according to information filed with the court.
In Topeka, Mayor Bill Bunten said, “I think there will be a lot of smiling people in our city today. For far too long this group has been an embarrassment to us.”
While the verdict against Phelps and two of his daughters was welcomed in many quarters, some are concerned that the country may have moved closer to the suppression of free speech and religious expression. Katz had reminded jurors that the First Amendment protects unpopular speech and religious groups.
But for years, mourners have watched the family wave signs — “Thank God for dead soldiers,” “You’re going to hell,” and “God hates fags” — at funerals of loved ones as part of the family’s campaign to condemn the nation for its tolerance of gays and lesbians.
Last week, Shirley Phelps-Roper, one of the church leaders with her sister Rebekah Phelps-Davis, likened their activities to Noah before the flood and called herself an angel delivering the word of an angry God. Church members say they demonstrate nearly every day and have picketed more than 30,000 times in the last 17 years
Jonathan Phelps, son of Fred Phelps Sr., said the outcome of the trial would have no effect on their brand of proselytizing, but would just bring more publicity.
“Absolutely,” Phelps-Roper agreed. “Don’t you understand this was an act in futility?”
Monday the church faxed out fliers that they would picket the Friday funeral of a Norton, Kan., soldier killed in a Humvee rollover at Fort Riley.
The flier declared: “Thank God for Renegade Humvees” and “God Himself Has Now Become America’s Terrorist, Killing and Maiming American Troops … With Their Own War Toys.” Sgt. Scott Turner’s death was mocked with a photo of a Humvee, captioned “Yikes — Is this thing supposed to be airborne?!?”
The text of the copy claims that “America has gone the way of Sodom … And added insult to that grievous injury by mocking and mistreating God’s prophets …”
Wednesday wasn’t a total loss for the Phelpses. As they awaited the verdict, the defendants went across the street from the courthouse to protest during a sunny noon hour.
The elder Phelps, wearing sunglasses and standing next to his wife, Margie, carried a sign that read, “God is your enemy.” Standing on an American flag and holding a sign that read “God hates fag enablers,” Phelps-Roper joined two of her sisters in singing “God Hates America” to the tune of “God Bless America.” A bicyclist passing by spat at them, while a handful of drivers honked and yelled obscenities. One man walking by was confused and asked why the protesters were taking God’s name in vain.
“We don’t, nor have we ever, approved of their message or their hurtful picketing,” said Bunten. “And I believe I speak for all Topekans when I extend congratulations to Mr. Snyder, the judge and the jury in Maryland, for expressing not only their position but ours as well.”
Snyder told the court that he sank into a depression after church members protested at his 20-year-old son’s services in March last year.
The nine jurors deliberated for seven hours before agreeing that the protesters maliciously invaded Snyder’s privacy and caused him “mental pain and suffering, fright, nervousness, indignity, humiliation, embarrassment and insult.”
The Phelpses filed a motion for a mistrial, citing judicial bias. Bennett denied the request.
In their motion, the defendants said the judge had spoken critically about the church’s ability to add members in recent years, that he said Phelps-Roper was eager to get out her religious views and that he had referred to her writings as “rambling,” among other things. They said the judge noted that Phelps-Davis testified that 99 percent of mankind was going to hell, which would include people in the courtroom. The Phelpses said Bennett’s remarks went beyond impatience with courtroom procedures and reflected “deep-seated favoritism or antagonism, at times in the presence of the jury.”
Since Phelps founded the Westboro church in 1955, city and state officials in Topeka have fought to pass restrictions on its protests, but most have been struck down in court. Both the city and state have had to pay Westboro for its legal fees when they’ve lost in court.
Some states have passed laws regarding funeral protests, and Congress has passed a law prohibiting such protests at federal cemeteries.
Wednesday’s verdict “is music to my ears,” said state Sen. Karin Brownlee, an Olathe Republican who sponsored a resolution condemning Westboro’s protests.
Topeka resident Brandy Sacco’s husband, Army Sgt. Dominic Sacco, was killed in Iraq in 2005. The Westboro church picketed his funeral. To this day, Sacco’s 6-year-old daughter remembers the protesters at her father’s funeral, referring to them as “the bad people,” Brandy Sacco said.
“I know it (the jury’s decision) is not going to bring back the family member,” she said. “But it’s the only way we’re going to stop them: Hit them in their pocket.”
The Star’s Washington correspondent
The Rev. Fred Phelps Sr. of Westboro Baptist Church.
BALTIMORE | After seven days, Maryland jurors smote the Westboro Baptist Church and its leaders Wednesday, awarding a grieving father nearly $11 million after anti-gay protests disturbed his Marine son’s funeral.
The father, Albert Snyder of York, Pa., sobbed when the verdict was read in U.S. District Court. Members of the Topeka church listened with tight-lipped smiles to the findings that they had invaded Snyder’s privacy with intent to inflict emotional distress.
Confident of his appeal, the Rev. Fred Phelps Sr. said: “Oh, it will take about five minutes to get that thing reversed.”
The federal jury first awarded $2.9 million in compensatory damages. It returned in the afternoon with its decision to award $6 million in punitive damages for privacy loss and $2 million for distress.
An attorney for Snyder had urged jurors to determine an amount “that says don’t do this in Maryland again. Do not bring your circus of hate to Maryland again.”
Another, Sean Summers, said he would tirelessly seek payment of the award from what he called a “71-member cult.”
Defense lawyer Jonathan Katz said the church is funded by tithing. Its assets and those of the three defendants are less than a million dollars and the compensatory award is about three times the defendants’ net worth, he said.
U.S. District Judge Richard Bennett agreed the award “far exceeds the net worth of the defendants,” according to information filed with the court.
In Topeka, Mayor Bill Bunten said, “I think there will be a lot of smiling people in our city today. For far too long this group has been an embarrassment to us.”
While the verdict against Phelps and two of his daughters was welcomed in many quarters, some are concerned that the country may have moved closer to the suppression of free speech and religious expression. Katz had reminded jurors that the First Amendment protects unpopular speech and religious groups.
But for years, mourners have watched the family wave signs — “Thank God for dead soldiers,” “You’re going to hell,” and “God hates fags” — at funerals of loved ones as part of the family’s campaign to condemn the nation for its tolerance of gays and lesbians.
Last week, Shirley Phelps-Roper, one of the church leaders with her sister Rebekah Phelps-Davis, likened their activities to Noah before the flood and called herself an angel delivering the word of an angry God. Church members say they demonstrate nearly every day and have picketed more than 30,000 times in the last 17 years
Jonathan Phelps, son of Fred Phelps Sr., said the outcome of the trial would have no effect on their brand of proselytizing, but would just bring more publicity.
“Absolutely,” Phelps-Roper agreed. “Don’t you understand this was an act in futility?”
Monday the church faxed out fliers that they would picket the Friday funeral of a Norton, Kan., soldier killed in a Humvee rollover at Fort Riley.
The flier declared: “Thank God for Renegade Humvees” and “God Himself Has Now Become America’s Terrorist, Killing and Maiming American Troops … With Their Own War Toys.” Sgt. Scott Turner’s death was mocked with a photo of a Humvee, captioned “Yikes — Is this thing supposed to be airborne?!?”
The text of the copy claims that “America has gone the way of Sodom … And added insult to that grievous injury by mocking and mistreating God’s prophets …”
Wednesday wasn’t a total loss for the Phelpses. As they awaited the verdict, the defendants went across the street from the courthouse to protest during a sunny noon hour.
The elder Phelps, wearing sunglasses and standing next to his wife, Margie, carried a sign that read, “God is your enemy.” Standing on an American flag and holding a sign that read “God hates fag enablers,” Phelps-Roper joined two of her sisters in singing “God Hates America” to the tune of “God Bless America.” A bicyclist passing by spat at them, while a handful of drivers honked and yelled obscenities. One man walking by was confused and asked why the protesters were taking God’s name in vain.
“We don’t, nor have we ever, approved of their message or their hurtful picketing,” said Bunten. “And I believe I speak for all Topekans when I extend congratulations to Mr. Snyder, the judge and the jury in Maryland, for expressing not only their position but ours as well.”
Snyder told the court that he sank into a depression after church members protested at his 20-year-old son’s services in March last year.
The nine jurors deliberated for seven hours before agreeing that the protesters maliciously invaded Snyder’s privacy and caused him “mental pain and suffering, fright, nervousness, indignity, humiliation, embarrassment and insult.”
The Phelpses filed a motion for a mistrial, citing judicial bias. Bennett denied the request.
In their motion, the defendants said the judge had spoken critically about the church’s ability to add members in recent years, that he said Phelps-Roper was eager to get out her religious views and that he had referred to her writings as “rambling,” among other things. They said the judge noted that Phelps-Davis testified that 99 percent of mankind was going to hell, which would include people in the courtroom. The Phelpses said Bennett’s remarks went beyond impatience with courtroom procedures and reflected “deep-seated favoritism or antagonism, at times in the presence of the jury.”
Since Phelps founded the Westboro church in 1955, city and state officials in Topeka have fought to pass restrictions on its protests, but most have been struck down in court. Both the city and state have had to pay Westboro for its legal fees when they’ve lost in court.
Some states have passed laws regarding funeral protests, and Congress has passed a law prohibiting such protests at federal cemeteries.
Wednesday’s verdict “is music to my ears,” said state Sen. Karin Brownlee, an Olathe Republican who sponsored a resolution condemning Westboro’s protests.
Topeka resident Brandy Sacco’s husband, Army Sgt. Dominic Sacco, was killed in Iraq in 2005. The Westboro church picketed his funeral. To this day, Sacco’s 6-year-old daughter remembers the protesters at her father’s funeral, referring to them as “the bad people,” Brandy Sacco said.
“I know it (the jury’s decision) is not going to bring back the family member,” she said. “But it’s the only way we’re going to stop them: Hit them in their pocket.”
I see this church is Cockton's future.
5000
