Judge throws out part of Mich. funeral protest law

By Ed White Associated Press DETROIT (AP) -- A judge has thrown out key parts of a Michigan law prohibiting protests at funerals, four years after two people who were close friends of a fallen soldier were arrested because signs in their van criticized President George W. Bush. U.S. District Judge Thomas Ludington said there was no probable cause to arrest Lewis and Jean Lowden, of Harrison. He said Michigan's ban on behavior that would "adversely affect" a funeral is vague, too broad and unconstitutional. The decision last Thursday came six months after the U.S. Supreme Court said the First Amendment protects certain speech outside funerals. "Innocent people suffer when our legislators pass overly broad laws that give police officers unchecked power to arrest people who express unpopular views," said attorney Dan Korobkin of the American Civil Liberties Union in Detroit. Clare County's attorney, Jason Kolkema, said the judge's decision is being reviewed. Michigan's law was adopted in response to members of a Topeka, Kan., church regularly protesting outside the funerals of U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan. The anti-gay protesters celebrate the deaths as an example of God's wrath. But the arrest of the Lowdens was not what lawmakers had in mind. Jean Lowden was Army Cpl. Todd Motley's former teacher, and Lewis Lowden had fished and camped with him. They were invited to his funeral in Harrison, 100 miles north of Lansing, after he was killed in Iraq in 2007. Sheriff's deputies stopped the couple and pulled their van out of the procession after noticing anti-Bush signs in the windows inside the vehicle. The signs didn't mention the military or Motley, but deputy Lawrence Kahsin said the van was "disruptive and kind of suspicious in nature." The Lowdens spent 24 hours in jail. Charges eventually were dropped. The judge said the couple's First Amendment right was violated along with the Fourth Amendment right against unreasonable search and seizure. "Neither the funeral protest statute nor any other law prohibits driving peacefully in a funeral procession with signs that criticize the government," Ludington said. The decision means Clare County could owe financial damages to Lewis Lowden and Jean Lowden's estate. She is deceased. Published: Tue, Sep 13, 2011