5th Circuit Dismisses Disjointed Free Exercise Claim of Former City Employee

In Sawyer v. Wright, (5th Cir., March 7, 2012), the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed a free exercise claim brought against an array of church and city officials by a former employee of the city of Austin, Texas. Plaintiff, appearing pro se, claimed that the city fired him when he refused "to lie, cheat, deceive, and steal," which he considers violations of "the religion he was ordained in."  The court, describing plaintiff's pleadings as disjointed and his brief as incomprehensible, held: "Nowhere does [plaintiff] allege a coherent sequence of facts tending to show that his Free Exercise claim is plausible."