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Compromise Near To Drop Charges Against Westboro Funeral Protester

By Howard M. Friedman

Sarpy County, Nebraska is close to reaching an agreement with Westboro Baptist Church leader Shirley Phelps-Roper that will lead to dismissing charges of negligent child abuse and disturbing the peace that have been brought against her.  The charges grew out of a 2007 protest at the visitation before the funeral of Iraq war veteran Randy Chaney. Westboro members picket veterans' funerals with signs protesting U.S. tolerance of homosexuality and other activities they consider sinful.  At the protest, Phelps-Roper's ten year old son was standing on an American flag. According to yesterday's Omaha World-Herald and a report from AP, charges of flag mutilation and contributing to the delinquency of a minor have already been dropped because a federal court declared the state's flag mutilation statute unconstitutional. Under the compromise being negotiated, Phelps-Roper will drop the lawsuit she has filed against three Sarpy County Attorneys who are prosecuting her seeking damages for violating her First Amendment rights. She will also drop Sarpy County from a pending federal lawsuit challenging the constituitonality of the state's funeral protest law. Phelps-Roper said: "The deal is 'You stop prosecuting us for our religion, and we'll stop suing you for prosecuting us for our religion'." The family of veteran Randy Chaney is unhappy with the county's decision to drop charges.

Full post as published by Religion Clause on August 24, 2010 (boomark / email).