Pastor vows to protest next week at Dearborn mosque
Jones, Sapp jailed briefly over $1 peace bond for mosque demonstration
Oralandar Brand-Williams and Francis X. Donnelly / The Detroit News
Dearborn Controversial Florida pastor Terry Jones plans to ignore a judge's order Friday and says he will hold a protest outside the Islamic Center of America next week.
"The city of Dearborn used the court as an instrument to prevent our protest from taking place
and has now violated our civil liberties by preventing us from exercising our freedom of speech as planned," said Jones, about an hour after being released from jail Friday evening. "We will be in contact with legal representation and plan to protest next week."
Jones and his associate, Wayne Sapp, were ordered jailed late Friday for refusing to pay a $1 "peace bond" after a six-person state jury ruled their plans to protest at the mosque would "likely breach the peace."
The jury agreed with prosecutors, who had sought a $45,000 bond, that the Quran-burning minister's demonstration could spark a riot.
District Judge Mark Somers also ordered both Jones and Sapp to stay away from the mosque for three years, an order that drew gasps, confusion and shouting in the courthouse.
Maria Miller, spokeswoman for the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office, said Jones "will be subject to arrest" if he disobeys Somers' order.
The pair were tried under a rarely used 1927 law that requires those who are likely to breach the peace to post "peace bonds." The law is more commonly used in domestic violence cases to protect spouses from violent partners.
"Nobody expected this," said Charlie Langton, a lawyer and WJBK Fox 2 legal analyst.
"It is prior restraint, but the judge followed the letter of the law," Langton said. "It's purely legal because it's never been challenged. That is not right. It's an old law that I don't think applies to this case. I think they'll have to appeal it."
At the Islamic Center, the largest mosque in North America, a cheer went through the crowd of 100 after police announced the jailing of Jones, who oversaw a burning of a Quran in March that is blamed on an outbreak of violence in Afghanistan that killed several people.
"That's what should happen when people say they are going to break the law," said Neda Kardri, 29, of Dearborn.
Somers' order followed an all-day trial in 19th District Court in Dearborn.
Prosecutors first announced that Jones and Sapp decided to pay the $1 bond. Seven minutes later, prosecutors announced the pair had changed their minds. Later Friday night, they were released after posting $1 each around 8:40 p.m.
"These proceedings were solely about public safety," Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy said in a statement.
"This was never about prohibiting free speech or fearing rioting but about a situation that could potentially place the public in danger in Dearborn."
But Rana Elmir of the ACLU of Michigan called the outcome Friday an abuse of the court process.
"This should have never come to this point to begin with," she said. "The judge should have dismissed the case (Thursday) instead of giving Jones and his cohorts a platform. It's a complete abuse of the court process, and all those involved should be ashamed."
Elmir said the Prosecutor's Office and Dearborn court turned the First Amendment on its head.
"In a free society no one should be thrown in jail for speech, even as distasteful and offensive as Mr. Jones" is, she said.
Concerns over traffic
Dearborn Mayor John "Jack" O'Reilly Jr. said it was never the city's intention to prosecute or jail Jones. City leaders just wanted to prevent Jones' demonstration from affecting neighboring churches from all the traffic the protest might attract.
"We never intended to arrest him," he said on Fox 2's "Let It Rip" talk show. "I have no control over the prosecutor."
Dawud Walid, executive director of the Council of American-Islamic Relations Michigan chapter, said he didn't believe the pastors should have been jailed, "although I believe Pastor Jones is misguided and has tried to make himself a First Amendment martyr."
Former Macomb County Prosecutor Carl Marlinga, however, said the judge was within the boundaries of the statute.
After the verdict, a crowd of about 200 people formed at the Dearborn police station, waiting to see if Jones would be taken to jail as police erected barricades.
The protesters shouted "racist" at David Grisham, a leader of an activist group, Repent Amarillo, who came to Dearborn to take part in the protest with Jones. As protesters surrounded Grisham, police put him in a car and escorted him out of the area.
The protesters were largely from the Detroit-based group By Any Means Necessary, which has criticized changes in the Detroit Public Schools.
During closing statements at the trial, Assistant Prosecutor Robert Moran called the planned protest a "recipe for disaster."
He cited several factors: The mosque is located on busy Ford Road, Jones has been threatened with violence, and hundreds were expected.
Nearby churches were planning afternoon Good Friday services, and just Thursday night, Jones accidentally discharged his pistol leaving a television studio. No one was injured, but Moran asked, "What if it happened again?" during the demonstration.
"They can't control their guns getting into a car, let alone a stressful situation," Moran told the jury.
'We are not criminals'
Throughout the trial, Jones said he was coming to protest jihad and Sharia law and has no plans to burn Qurans or images of the prophet Muhammad.
"We are not criminals," said Jones. "All we want to do is exercise our First Amendment rights."
Jones, 59, founder and president of Stand Up America Now!, acted as his own lawyer in the trial over the city's decision to deny him a permit or set a "peace bond" to protest on public land. The city has offered instead the chance to protest in "free speech zones" away from the mosque.
But during closing arguments, Jones called the free speech zones unconstitutional and argued that fears about what may happen are no reason to deny him a permit.
"Is intimidation and fear enough reason to give in? Once we start giving in, when do we stop?" Jones asked.
"The First Amendment is only valid if it allows us to say what other people do not like."
Jones argued the Quran "promotes terrorist activities around the world."
Before supervising the Quran burning at his Gainesville, Fla., church, Jones sparked worldwide outrage by threatening to burn the Islamic holy book last year to protest plans to build a Muslim center near ground zero in Manhattan.
Jones also took a verbal swipe at an imam who suggested that burning a Quran is seen by some as worth 1,000 lives.
"Is one book worth a thousand lives? A book does not breathe. It does not live. A book is a book," Jones said.
"The Bible is a book. Go to the mall, get a Bible and burn it. I will feel sorry for you. I will pray for you. I will think you are foolish."
Christine Ferretti, George Hunter, RoNeisha, Santiago and Mike Wilkinson contributed.
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