Charges Against Gideons Dismisssed By Florida Court

World Net Daily reports today that in Key Largo, Florida, a judge has dismissed charges brought against two members of Gideons International who were handing out Bibles last January on a sidewalk near a Key Largo school. (See prior posting.) After having initial trespass charges dismissed, the two were re-charged under a statute that prohibits being within 500 feet of school property during school hours without having legitimate business or other authorization. Alliance Defense Fund Senior Legal Counsel David Cortman, who was defending the Gideons said that the statute, read literally, would have covered people merely driving by the school. If those people are exempt and the Gideons are not, then the statute creates a content-based restriction on speech, he argued.