PLANTATION KEY, Fla. — Attorneys with the Alliance Defense Fund have filed a motion to dismiss new charges filed by the state of Florida against two members of The Gideons International. Ernest Simpson and Anthony Mirto were arrested, charged with trespassing, and booked into jail after distributing copies of the Bible on a public sidewalk. Following the initial motion to dismiss filed by ADF attorneys, the state dismissed the charges but then filed new ones under a different statute.
“The distribution of Bibles on a public sidewalk is not a criminal offense,” said ADF Senior Legal Counsel David Cortman. “The attempts by Florida officials to continue pressing for the prosecution of Mr. Mirto and Mr. Simpson is not only blatantly unconstitutional, it borders on religious persecution.”
On Jan. 19, Simpson and Mirto attempted to distribute Bibles on a public sidewalk outside Key Largo School but did not step on to school grounds. Both men were arrested, booked, and charged with trespassing after the school’s principal called police (
www.telladf.org/news/story.aspx?cid=4006.) On March 8, ADF attorneys filed a motion to dismiss the charges (
www.telladf.org/news/story.aspx?cid=4031).
Although the state did dismiss the trespassing charges, it filed new charges under a different state statute. That statute prohibits anyone from being within 500 feet of any school property, including on public sidewalks and streets, without having either “legitimate business” or permission.
“The facts are clear: Mr. Mirto and Mr. Simpson are guilty of nothing more than peacefully exercising their First Amendment rights,” Cortman said. “For whatever reason, the state is grasping at straws in order to justify the punishment of these men.”
The new motion to dismiss filed by ADF attorneys last week in the County Court in and for Monroe County, Florida, in State of Florida v. Simpson and State of Florida v. Mirto is available at
www.telladf.org/UserDocs/MirtoMTD2.pdf.
ADF is a legal alliance defending the right to hear and speak the Truth through strategy, training, funding, and litigation.
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