Judge acquits man accused of putting First Amendment sticker on courthouse church directory
An Ohio judge has acquitted a man accused of criminal mischief for putting a First Amendment sticker on a courthouse church directory.
Visiting Judge Dale Crawford granted a motion to acquit Eliot Kalman based on insufficient evidence on Tuesday, before the case reached the jury, the Columbus Dispatch reports.
The directory at the Athens County Courthouse is maintained by a group of three women called the Athens Christian Education Committee.
Kalman told the Columbus Dispatch he was relieved and pleased by the verdict. Will the stickers make a return appearance? “I’m not inclined to tempt fate,” Kalman told the newspaper. But “there is still the matter of what’s going to happen to this unconstitutional church directory.”
The county is still evaluating what to do with the directory, a commissioner told the Dispatch.
