It was the threats, theft, trespass, arson etc. His crime wasnt burning the flag in some protest. He was not some Joe citizen simply protesting.Īctually, you are missing the point.
The problem with that assertion is all the other facts and circumstances. I know you're trying to say he got nails for 17 years because it was a gay pride flag and wouldn't have if it was a US flag. The bottom line is nothing he did is comparable to burning a US flag in protest, which is what the click bait headlines are attempting to insinuate. It was also all the other elements of the event he was charged with, just like getting charged with trespass and theft if you steal someone's American flag off their flag pole on their property.
It was the reckless use of fire meaning he could have endangered others. He wasnt charged for burning a flag at all. That's what people are getting completely wrong. This guys huge sentence was not for simply burning a gay pride flag. People have been fined or convicted of such crimes in connection to the circumstances around their protest. You may also be charged with theft trespass or other crimes depending on the circumstances around the us flag burning protest. While your freedom of speech and expression protects you from retaliation by a government when you burn the us flag, you have no such protection if you target specific people or groups. TARGETING them because they are gay there would be no hate crime and he would probably not went to jail at all because the crimes and their sentences would not have been enhanced. If he wasnt a 3rd strike felon and he didnt run his mouth about Infact if he wasnt a 3rd strike felon under the exact same set of circumstances he would have gotten a max of 5 years, probably 2 or 3 even with the hate crime conviction. I will hand it to him though, his hypocrisy knows no bounds and he owns it.Ĭlick to expand.Actually, you are missing the point. It makes him the most irrelevant of all phucktards. Personally, I could care less about the opinion of a guy who frequents a strip club then has the balls to run on about Christian values as cover for his BS that includes judging others. A much saner 3 strike law than some places where he would goto prison for life for any one of the crimes. Being his 3rd strike his crimes were enhanced a level and sentence tripled. Without running his mouth he would have probably still went to jail but for about 5 years, max. Here, however, the ammendment he should have paid attention to was the 5th and kept his mouth shut. You do not have the right to target others and commit crimes using your first ammendment rights as a cover for your actions. You have the absolute right to think and say anything you want. Hate crimes are hard to charge and prove because proving someone's intent is difficult, we see it all the time in cases people think are obvious but dont get charged. It clearly covers his opinion on homosexuality all day long. "There's nothing about sexual orientation in state law," Clemens said.Tell me how the first ammendment covers you for trespass, threats of arson, theft, then actually burning something the same place you threatened to burn down? The suspect wasn't charged with a hate crime because he didn't have specific intent to intimidate or harass a group of people because of their ethnicity, religion, ancestry or national origin, Clemens said. There's another downtown business that has reported some "issues" but not in recent months, Clemens said.
#MAN CONVICTED FOR BURNING GAY FLAG FREE#
I would like to reiterate, the Supreme Court has ruled that burning the American flag, while reprehensible, is protected as free speech. The incident was witnessed by police around 11:30 p.m. An Ames, Iowa man was sentenced to 16 years in prison after he set fire to a church gay pride flag in June. A man is behind bars after Sioux Falls Police Department officers saw him pull a flag down from a business and try to burn it.