A California street preacher arrested while evangelizing to concert-goers outside a public events arena no longer faces charges after a religious freedom law firm argued that law enforcement made an “unfortunate and serious mistake” that resulted in the violation of the pastor’s First Amendment rights.

The San Bernardino County District Attorney has dismissed the charges against Pastor Arturo Fernandez following his arrest in June, according to a Dec. 5 statement from Advocates for Faith & Freedom.

“This dismissal is a victory for free speech and religious expression,” Advocates for Faith & Freedom Attorney Julianne Fleischer said in a statement.

“Pastor Fernandez was peacefully exercising his God-given and constitutionally protected rights to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ,” the attorney continued. “While we have the utmost respect for the men and women in law enforcement, no government entity has the right to silence lawful public preaching.”

The Ontario Police Department and the San Bernardino County District Attorney’s Office did not immediately respond to The Christian Post’s request for comment.

Following the street preacher’s arrest, the law firm issued demand letters to the Ontario Police Department and the division chief at the district attorney’s office in San Bernardino County.

According to copies of the letters Advocates for Faith & Freedom provided to The Christian Post, the incident began when two security guards at the Ontario-based Toyota Arena approached the street preacher.

Fernandez had reportedly positioned himself on the sidewalk at the top of a flight of stairs, standing about 20 feet from concert-goers as they entered the arena.

The letters also noted there were four sets of railings between the street preacher and the event attendees. While the law firm argued that Fernandez had preached at the arena for years without incident, the two arena security guards approached the man with a written warning.

One of the guards told Fernandez that he was on private property, but the preacher insisted he was standing on public property and that the guard should call the police to confirm. An officer who arrived on the scene told the street preacher that Toyota Arena is a “property run by a private company,” meaning that the company has the right to decide who it wants and doesn’t want on the property.

The officer claimed that Fernandez was violating the company’s code of conduct, and he instructed the preacher to leave or face arrest for trespassing. When the preacher brought up free speech rights and asked to speak with the officer’s supervisor, the policeman insisted that the company had the right to insist on Fernandez’s removal.

“Pastor Fernandez explained to the officer that he had preached at the Toyota Arena before, that the City of Ontario owns the property, and that when certain parties use the Arena, their right to exclude only applies to the inside of the building,” the letter stated. “The officer denied this latter statement, arguing that such parties’ rights extend to the parking lot.”

After the pastor insisted that he had a right to preach outside of the arena, the officer warned Fernandez again that he would arrest him if the preacher continued refusing to leave. According to the letter, Fernandez “peacefully submitted” to the arrest. He was charged with trespass in violation of California Penal Code section 602.

The street preacher was eventually released and ordered to appear in court in October, according to Advocates for Faith & Freedom. While the nonprofit law firm expressed its respect for the police, it argued that the department violated the preacher’s First Amendment rights.

The firm argued that the First Amendment protects street preachers and that entities with a permit to use public property “do not enjoy unfettered control over the speech occurring on that property.”

“Even if the arresting officer acted in the public’s interest, we find further proof of his mistake in the fact that the government had no substantial interest in removing Pastor Fernandez due to public safety or traffic flow concerns,” the letters state.

During his time preaching at the concert, Fernandez was standing 20 feet away from the event attendees, which the firm claimed is a “respectful distance,” adding that the nature of the man’s preaching posed no threat to public safety. In addition, Advocates for Faith & Freedom emphasized that the arresting officer presented no evidence that Fernandez had obstructed traffic.

“Thus, Ontario Police Department has no substantial interest in stifling Pastor Fernandez’s street preaching, and the officer was mistaken when he arrested the Pastor for trespassing,” the legal group concluded.

As a result of the letters, the San Bernardino County District Attorney’s office agreed to dismiss the charges.

The case is not the first time Fernandez has been arrested for street preaching. In 2021, Fernandez was arrested but not charged while preaching in San Bernardino.
Sources:Christian Post

http://theendtimeradio.com

The Franklin Fire has ravaged Malibu, California. As of Sunday, the fire has burned 4,037 acres, destroyed 19 structures, and damaged 27. Crews have contained it to 42%, and evacuation orders are now just warnings. Residents have repopulated their homes, yet some parks and other areas are still closed.

One of the localities that the fire has affected is Pepperdine University. The unique geography on the campus of the private Christian university has the school handling emergencies like the fire in a different way.

CNN reports:

“Evacuating a large population during a fast-moving wildfire can create additional risks, including exposure to hazardous conditions on congested roads,” said Michael Friel, the school’s senior director of Communications and Public Relations. “The Malibu campus is situated along Pacific Coast Highway, which can become a choke point during regional evacuations.”

“Another challenge is timing. Wildfires often move rapidly, leaving little time to safely evacuate thousands of students and staff,” Friel said. “By sheltering in place, we can keep everyone accounted for and in a secure environment.”

Students hunkered down on campus as the fire raged around them. But there was an encouraging symbol of hope for the school and the region: a cross that sits atop the mountain at the end of a hiking trail on campus survived the fire.

The Woolsey Fire destroyed the original cross in that location, and a fraternity replaced the cross later that year. The frat says that the paint on the wooden cross and the smaller crosses surrounding it is waterproof but not fireproof, “which shows how impressive (it) is that they are still standing strong,” as Fox Weather reports.

Recommended: The Kindness of Strangers: A Different Kind of Adventure in the Mountains

“I am grateful to God that he spared Pepperdine and this cross that burned down during the Woolsey fire and had to be replaced,” one university official said. “Somehow He spared it, as if He wanted us to have something tangible to hold onto to help us through the difficulty we just went through.”

Indeed, not only did the fire spare the cross—the ultimate symbol of hope—but the trail also remained largely untouched

Sources:BREAKING CHRISTIAN NEWS

http://theendtimeradio.com

A pastor who spent eight years in prison settled for $4.4 million following a lawsuit he filed against a North Carolina town and arresting officers he says withheld critical evidence that proved his innocence. The town has denied any wrongdoing.

Rev. Darron Carmon served eight years in prison following an armed robbery conviction in 1994 and was released in 2002 for good behavior. Carmon and his legal team said they tried negotiating with the Town of Winterville before filing the civil suit, ABC11 reported Friday.

The Winterville pastor, who founded the Rebuild Christian Center Church in Winterville and Greater Village Gate Church in Lewiston, filed the lawsuit after Pitt County Superior Court Judge Marvin Blount overturned his conviction in 2022 and he received a pardon of innocence from North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper in November.

“I don’t agree with what I had to do to get here. I feel like it should’ve been a simpler process. I’ve had to prove my innocence about three times,” the pastor said in a statement shared by the outlet. “Next for me is to continue what I have already been doing. I have organizations in place to address certain issues; mentoring for kids without fathers and ‘People Against Racism.'”

In response to an inquiry from The Christian Post, a spokesperson for the Town of Winterville pointed to a November statement outlining the events leading up to Carmon’s 1994 conviction and the eventual lawsuit.

The town rejects Carmon’s accusations of wrongdoing in the “strongest possible terms.”

The town says a clerk at a Fresh Way store identified Carmon as the suspect who carried out an armed robbery at the store in 1993. Investigating officers had shown him a photographic lineup of booking photographs, and the clerk repeated the accusation during the criminal trial, saying there was “no doubt” that Carmon was the man who had threatened his life and robbed the store.

“The District Attorney who prosecuted the case testified in this civil proceeding that having eyewitness testimony as the only available evidence in a convenience store robbery case was typical for the early 1990s,” the Town of Winterville said in its statement. “Surveillance cameras were not in general use in Greenville-area retail stores at the time, much less in a small-town convenience store.”

Police arrested Carmon, who was 19 years old at the time and under 6 feet tall. But the store clerk described the suspect as 6 feet tall with an Afro, according to the lawsuit that Carmon filed. The complaint accused the officers of concealing fingerprint evidence taken from the Fresh Way store when it did not match Carmon’s.

In its November statement, the Town denied that officers lied about the store clerk’s description in their report, saying that the only evidence of this is based on a statement Carmon’s parents alleged they overhead from a leading officer on the case.

“Mr. Carmon’s parents testified that the investigating Officer made this statement at the police station when the store clerk was going through the photo lineup book in which he identified Mr. Carmon as the robber,” the statement continued. “However, the investigating Officers both testified that the photo lineup was shown to the store clerk at the Fresh Way, not at the police station.”

Regarding the fingerprints, the town says that the Winterville Police Department had preserved in an investigative file a set of latent prints reportedly taken from the convenience store on the night of the robbery. It further noted that the prints do not appear to have been adequately analyzed until 2021.

“To this day, it is unknown why or where the prints were taken, whether the palm print was recognized in 1993 as potentially useful for comparison, or who had knowledge that the palm print was in the file,” the town said.

“North Carolina law enforcement did not have the technology to transmit or search palm prints in a statewide database until 2008, and the first national searchable palm print identification database was not available until 2013, 20 years after this armed robbery.”

The town further argued that, at the time of the robbery, Carmon had been indicted on forgery charges, and the statement claimed that his alibi had changed over time.

In October, the pastor participated in a court-ordered mediation alongside the town and the officers, according to the press release. Insurance companies representing the town and the officers engaged in negotiations, agreeing to settle the lawsuit.

“Neither the Town nor the Officers paid any of the settlement proceeds, as the full settlement amount will be paid by the insurance companies. As part of the settlement, all parties specifically agreed that neither the Town nor the Officers admitted to any wrongdoing,” the Winterville press release concluded.

“While the Town believes strongly that there was no wrongdoing by the Town or its Officers, the Town is pleased to have this matter resolved, and is ready to move forward.”
Sources:Christian Post

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