CAN YOU BURN THE GAY FLAG FREE
The Sentence Represents a Violation of Martinez’s Free Speech Moreover, if you can credit the prosecutor (I would need to see a direct quote), Martinez threatened to do the crime again.īut let us look even more closely. So if we are going to be quite fair, we must admit that Martinez’s own statements make it clear that he lacked remorse, and he no doubt continues to believe that the church-and its LGBTQ community-deserved what he gave them. Not a popular Bible verse at the Ames United Church of Christ Not only did he reportedly (though this is hearsay) threaten to burn the church down, he said on camera: “It is a judgment and is written, to execute vengeance on a heathen and punishments upon the people.” You can easily imagine how ominous such Biblical-sounding language would sound to the worshipers at the Ames United Church of Christ. 729A.2: “…committed against a person’s…property because of the person’s…sexual orientation…” He did say some pretty threatening things about the church. It is credible, in fairness, maybe not just because of the flag burning but especially because of what he said after the flag burning. Still, his crime was aggravated since it was a hate crime, and as the law is written, this label seems credible. He was charged with arson, but of course it was only misdemeanor arson since the burned property was just a flag. The statement itself is not the crime, but stealing and burning someone else’s property is. He was clearly making a statement that was doubtless obnoxious to everyone in the courtroom. Martinez stole and burned a symbolic piece of cloth.
Let me spend some time explaining why it is not, in fact, quite as clear cut as it might appear at first. “Surely it’s not so clear-cut.” That is true. “But given the threatening things he has said, why think so?” you might ask. My view is that this sentence is an official state repudiation of that religious view, and so it violates Martinez’ First Amendment freedoms of speech and religion. It was a blessing from the Lord,” Martinez declared to a KCCI reporter on camera. Martinez is shamelessly outspoken against the pieties of the Ames United Church of Christ. Reynolds, the prosecuting attorney, also claimed, “The defendant stated that there was nothing the judge could to stop him from continuing this behavior and that he would continue to do this no matter what.” Not Actually a Nice Guy, But… According to Iowa court records, the worst he has done in the last four years in Iowa is one count of drunk driving. Story County Attorney Jessica Reynolds said Judge Steve Van Marel “agreed to the 17-year sentence because Martinez has a long history of harassment and is a habitual offender and never showed any remorse.” Maybe he has a long history of serious crime elsewhere, but not in Iowa.
The case files 1 indicate that the charges against Martinez were: arson in the third degree (by itself, in Iowa, an aggravated misdemeanor), considered by the court a hate crime harassment in the third degree (a simple misdemeanor) and reckless use of fire. He came back at some point and told the bar, the people in the bar, that he was going to burn the place down, and at that point made a reference to burning “their flag.” Martinez was a “regular patron” of the bar-where he had been kicked out, after causing a disturbance-in front of which he burned the flag: Martinez is not a pleasant character, to hear Cmdr. That was the whole extent of the crime.Īggravating circumstances made it worse than just that. By his own admission, as you can see in a video, Martinez tore down the flag from the church, took it in front of a local dive, and burned it.