OXFORD, Miss. – The city of Columbus, Mississippi, is asking a federal judge to throw out a lawsuit filed by a local minister who argues he was unlawfully arrested during a personhood amendment rally in 2011.
Stephen Joiner, the pastor at First Church of the Nazarene, sued the city in U.S. District Court in May.
Police say Joiner was arrested for “failure to obey a police officer” during the March 30, 2011 rally held to build support for a proposed “Personhood Amendment,” which would have declared “personhood” begins at fertilization.
Joiner argues his arrest was “unconstitutional” and violated his right to freedom of speech. He is asking for, among other things, compensatory damages and for the charge to be expunged from his record.
The Commercial Dispatch reports that the city, in a response to the lawsuit filed this past week, denies the allegations and asks a judge to dismiss the lawsuit
