A man convicted of a misdemeanor disorderly conduct charge for an outburst at 12Stone Church's Flowery Branch campus in August 2014 is trying to have his conviction overturned by the Georgia Supreme Court, citing an apparent vagueness in the law.
David Justin Freeman, a homeschooling father, stood in the back of the church August 3 and "raised his middle finger in the air" as the pastor, Jason Berry, called for all the teachers in attendance to stand so Berry could pray over them, according to a news release from the Georgia Supreme Court office.
Berry, in courtroom testimony for the case, Freeman v. The State, said he finished his prayer, at which point Freeman began yelling, "Don't send your kids to the evil public schools. Don't let Satan or the devil raise your kids."
Prosecutors said Freeman was so loud the music director had to turn up the music to drown him out.
"Berry testified that Freeman's behavior frightened him, and he was afraid both for himself and for the more than 250 people attending church that day," the release states.
At issue is the wording of Georgia's disorderly conduct law, which states that, in order to meet the threshold of the law, a victim "is placed in reasonable fear of the safety of such person's life, limb, or health."
Freeman argued that his actions were protected free speech under the First Amendment, and that Berry — and Hall County Sheriff's deputies — only had him arrested for political reasons. Freeman had apparently phoned the Sheriff's Office previously to complain about deputies speeding.
He also claimed that the disorderly conduct code is vague and over-broad, with his lawyers saying "it could be used to prosecute a wide variety of normal and socially acceptable activities, resulting in absurdities manifestly not intended by the legislature."
The Hall County Solicitor's Office, which is representing the state, argued that Freeman's actions were not protected free speech, arguing that "lewd, profane and obscene speech are not protected."
The state also contends that Freeman's actions could be considered "fighting words," which would therefore meet the standard of Georgia's disorderly conduct code, since Berry and the attendees apparently felt threatened for their personal safety.
The court will hear the case on Monday.
