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Last Friday, February 1, 2002, Judge Paul Higginbotham
heard the case of State of Wisconsin v. Ralph Ovadal. After
hearing the case, the judge announced that he will postpone a ruling for
several months and asked for more briefs to be filed by both sides since
the case has "great significance" regarding the First Amendment.
Pastor Ovadal has been charged with a crime for preaching the gospel on
the public parking lot of the Department of Natural Resources nude beach
near Mazomanie, Wisconsin. All parties in the case agree that the parking
lot is a free speech area, but the State claims that Pastor committed a
crime when he rebuked a lewd, taunting woman and preached the gospel to
her. The significant aspects of Pastor Ovadal's trial last Friday include:
Judge Higginbotham proved to be blatantly biased,
often violating courtroom procedure, so much so to the point that Pastor
Ovadal's attorney Jim Donohoo was forced to note as much many times for
the record.
On the stand under oath, the "victim,"
Nancy J. Erickson, freely admitted that she regularly goes nude at the
Mazo beach, including in the presence of children.
It was clear from both video evidence and witnesses
that on the day in question, Erickson got out of her car, spouted
obscenities at several Christians, threatened to expose herself, and
then engaged in a lewd dance in front of Pastor Ovadal, who in turn
preached to her and the law enforcement officials on hand.
Erickson lied under oath so clearly and repeatedly
that Attorney Jim Donohoo will be demanding that perjury charges be
filed against her.
The D.A. was clearly an open advocate for the nudists
of Mazo beach. At one point while he was questioning Pastor, the D.A.
blurted out, "Jesus Christ created us nude."
The D.A. chose to put the gospel on trial, perhaps
knowing that Pastor Ovadal has done nothing other than strive to protect
children and share eternal truth with a woman desperately in need of
repentance and redemption through faith in Jesus Christ. During the
trial, the D.A. engaged Pastor Ovadal in a debate over the gospel and
God's law. His closing arguments included these statements: "I'm a
Christian. I think preaching is a good thing; this was not preaching.
Preaching is when one shares their love of a chosen deity to anyone who
wants to listen. Pastor Ovadal wasn't preaching to her. . . This was not
preaching; it was very hateful. A crime in the name of religious
expression. Hate in the name of religion is still hate to me; hate
cloaked in religion. . . . Preaching about eternal damnation is a
threat."
The following are excerpts from the portion of Pastor
Ovadal's message which he preached to Nancy J. Erickson on May 28, 2001:
"Why don't you repent, ma'am? Give your life to Jesus Christ. You are
acting like a Jezebel. You need to repent. You have no respect, no honor.
You're acting like a barnyard animal. Anyone can act like a barnyard
animal. . . . You ought to act like a godly woman. Give your life to
Christ . . . You ought to be ashamed. . . . Don't act like a whore, ma'am.
Give your life to Jesus Christ, and He'll make you a new creature. He'll
give you a fresh start. He'll clean you up. He'll do a godly work in your
life. You won't have to be ashamed of yourself. Listen to your conscience,
ma'am. You need to start over. You need to repent."
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