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."