Conviction in Georgia church fires overturned

ATLANTA - An appeals court has overturned the conviction of an Indiana Satan-worshipper in a fatal Banks County church arson and four other Georgia church arsons, upholding his challenge to the federal statute under which he was charged. <br> <br> Banks County volunteer firefighter Loy Williams died, December 31, 1998, when the roof of the New Salem Methodist Church collapsed, pinning him under the blaze.<br> <br> The law making it a federal offense to destroy church property because of its religious character should not have been applied to the case of Jay Scott Ballinger, a panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Thursday in a 2-1 decision. <br> <br> Although Congress did not exceed its constitutional authority by enacting the law under its power to regulate interstate commerce, Ballinger&#39;s travel across state lines, his purchase of gasoline and other goods did not meet the necessary criteria to be charged with the federal crime, the judges said. <br> <br> They said it did not have a substantial affect on interstate commerce. <br> <br> Ballinger, 40, of Yorktown, Ind., - a self-described ``Luciferian&#39;&#39; - was sentenced to life in prison for church fires. Two were in Chatsworth and the others were in Watkinsville, Commerce and Monroe. <br> <br> Ballinger already was serving a 42.5-year prison sentence after pleading guilty to 26 church fires in eight states. Because of his hatred of organized religion, he set the fires by breaking church windows, pouring gasoline inside and igniting it with a cigarette lighter, prosecutors said. <br> <br> The federal law, however, ``requires proof of a substantial affect on interstate commerce by each charged church arson,&#39;&#39; said Thursday&#39;s opinion by Judge Stanley F. Birch Jr. and Senior Judge James C. Hill. <br> <br> Judge Cynthia Holcomb Hall of San Francisco, sitting on the panel by designation, disagreed. <br> <br> ``Ballinger&#39;s travel in interstate commerce was sufficient to subject him to the punishment Congress intended,&#39;&#39; she said. ``Moreover, the regular and active use of the church buildings he destroyed in interstate commerce ...&#39;&#39; also served as a basis for applying the law. <br> <br> Angela Wood, 25, of Athens, a former exotic dancer who was a companion of Ballinger, was sentenced in the fall of 2000 to 16 years and eight months in prison for her role in the fires outside of Georgia. Assistant U.S. Attorney Chris Wray said at Ballinger&#39;s Aug. 17, 2001 sentencing in Gainesville that there was no evidence Wood participated in the Georgia church arsons.

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