Murder Convictions Reversed Because Jehovah's Witness Juror Excluded

In Pacchiana v. State of Florida, (FL App., Feb. 14, 2018), a Florida appeals court reversed and remanded for a new trial the murder conviction of defendant.  In companion decisions the convictions of Pacchiana's co-defendants were also reversed: Michael Bilotti v. Florida and in Christin Bilotti v. Florida .

In the case, defense counsel raised a Batson challenge to the state's peremptory strike of an African American member of the jury pool.  The state responded that its race-neutral reason for the challenge was that the juror is a Jehovah's Witness.  The prosecution urged that members of that religion often believe that only God judges and they cannot judge.  In the court's primary opinion, Judge Levine wrote:

the state did not provide a “legitimate” race-neutral reason..... During voir dire, the potential juror stated that she would follow the law and gave no indication that she would allow her status as a Jehovah’s Witness to affect her decisionmaking at all. In moving to strike her, the state merely relied on the juror’s membership in a religion without any testimony that it would actually affect her service as a juror, speculating that “any” practicing Jehovah’s Witness would refuse to sit in judgment of others.

Judge Levine went on to conclude that even if this was a valid religion-based challenge, Batson should be extended to religion-based peremptory challenges, as well as racial ones.  He also concluded that:

striking a potential juror from jury service based solely on membership in a religion, no matter what the juror says during voir dire, is an impermissible “religious test” in violation of the United States and Florida Constitutions.

Chief Judge Gerber concurred only in part, concluding that religion is a race-neutral response to a Batson challenge. However he agreed with Judge Levine's other conclusions that made this an impermissible religion-based challenge.  Judge May dissented, concluding that Batson should not be extended to religion-based challenges.  She also concluded that there were sufficient additional reasons given for the challenge to make it race-neutral. However in co-defendant Christin Bilotti's case, she would remand for resentencing.  The Sun Sentinel reports on the decision.

Court Upholds Large Penalty Against Jehovah's Witnesses For Failure To Produce Documents

In Padron v. Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc., (CA App., Nov. 9, 2017), a California appellate court upheld a $4000 per day penalty against a Jehovah's Witness parent body for its refusal  to comply with a litigation discovery request.  At issue is a litigant's attempt to obtain copies of responses to a letter sent to elders around the country seeking names of congregation leaders who are known to have been guilty of child molestation in the past.  The total amount now due is some $2 million.  Reveal reports on the decision.

Canada's Supreme Court Hears Arguments In Ecclesiastical Abstention Case

On Nov. 2, the Supreme Court of Canada heard oral argument (video of full oral arguments) in Judicial Committee of the Highwood Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses v. Wall.  Links to the briefs of the parties and a number of intervenors are also available online.  ReligiousLiberty.tv reports on the case.  In the case, the Alberta Court of Appeals in a 2-1 decision held that Canadian civil courts have jurisdiction to review a formal decision by a Jehovah's Witness congregation to disfellowship one of its members. (See prior posting.)  [Thanks to Michael Peabody for the lead.]

Judge Denies New Counsel to Murder Defendant Claiming Religious Conflict With Attorney

Wichita Eagle reported yesterday that a Kansas trial court judge has denied the request by a defendant in a murder case who wants new counsel.  Defendant Rachael Hilyard, charged with decapitating Micki Davis, the mother of her ex-boyfriend, says she has an extreme religious conflict with her attorney.  She says her lawyer will not get her a psychological evaluation.  In a letter to the court, Hilyard said in part:

The victim in my case was a Jehovas Witness. I think he is one as well.  I am Catholic & this was a crime of God. I am requesting a change of counsel..... On a different case, this would be irrelevant. However, I am Catholic & and the head of a Jehovas Witness was found in my kitchen sink. I think she may have been a high ranking member in this religion.

Davis' family says she was not a Jehovah's Witness.

Namibian Court Says Members of Jehovah's Witness Order Are "Employees"

A Labour Court in Windhoek, Namibia last week held that members of the Worldwide Order of Special Full-Time Servants of Jehovah's Witnesses should be treated as "employees" under the country's Labour Act and Social Security Act.  Classifying the Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses of Namibia as an employer means that it must provide maternity and sick leave payments for members of the Order. According to The Namibian yesterday:

Acting judge Unengu noted in his judgement that although the congregation and members of the order did not sign written employment contracts with each other, members of the order completed application forms to become a member in order to serve the church in a full-time capacity.

Once accepted as a member, they are also required to take a vow of obedience and poverty, which is taken to be an indication that they are prepared to live a modest lifestyle and to perform any tasks assigned to them by the order. Members of the order are also required to abstain from outside employment.

Acting judge Unengu further noted that members of the order had fixed hours of service from Mondays to Fridays and received a monthly allowance of about N$940.

Russian Supreme Court Judge Bans Jehovah's Witness Organizations As Extremist Groups

According to Forum 18, in Russia yesterday, after six days of hearings Supreme Court Judge Yury Ivanenko declared the Jehovah's Witness national headquarters in St. Petersburg and all 395 of its local organizations to be "extremist" organizations.  The judgment bans all their activity and orders their property seized by the state. According to Tass, the full text of the judge's decision will be furnished to the parties within five days.  Jehovah's Witnesses now have 30 days to appeal the decision to a 3-judge appellate panel of the Supreme Court.  If that panel affirms the decision, Jehovah's Witnesses plan to appeal to the European Court of Human Rights. If the judgement is ultimately upheld, it will be illegal for Jehovah's Witnesses to engage in any kind of missionary activity in Russia.

UN Experts Urge Russia to Drop Extremism Suit Against Jehovah's Witnesses

Yesterday, in anticipation of today's hearing before Russia's Supreme Court, the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights issued a press release urging the Russian Federation to drop a suit brought under Russia's anti-extremism legislation against all Jehovah's Witnesses congregations. According to the press release, which quotes three UN human rights experts:

"This lawsuit is a threat not only to Jehovah’s Witnesses, but to individual freedom in general in the Russian Federation...."

"The use of counter-extremism legislation in this way to confine freedom of opinion, including religious belief, expression and association to that which is state-approved is unlawful and dangerous, and signals a dark future for all religious freedom in Russia...."　

The condemnation follows a lawsuit lodged at the country’s Supreme Court on 15 March to declare the Jehovah’s Witnesses Administrative Centre ‘extremist’, to liquidate it, and to ban its activity. 　

A suspension order came into effect on that date, preventing the Administrative Centre and all its local religious centres from using state and municipal news media, and from organizing and conducting assemblies, rallies and other public events.

Settlement Reached In Suit Against Jehovah's Witness Congregation Over Sex Abuse

Penn Live reports that a settlement has been reached on the fifth day of a trial in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in a suit against a Jehovah's Witness congregation and other Jehovah's Witness organizations. In the suit, plaintiff claims that as a teenager she was sexually abused by a member of her church and church elders covered up the situation and failed to report it to authorities after the girl's mother contacted church elders.  The full text of the complaint in the case, Fessler v. Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc., (PA Com. Pleas, filed 3/26/2014), is discussed in another report by Penn Live.

Jehovah's Witness Sues After He Is Fired For Refusing To Wish Customers "Merry Christmas"

In a suit filed last week in a Tennessee federal district court, plaintiff who worked as a cashier at a Murphy Oil service station alleged that the actual reason that he was fired from his position was that his district manager objected to his refusal to wish customers a "Merry Christmas."  The complaint (full text) in Appleyard v. Murphy Oil USA, Inc., (WD TN, filed 11/10/2016), says that plaintiff's Jehovah's Witness religion does not celebrate Christmas and prohibits its members from wishing others a Merry Christmas.  Plaintiff contends that his firing amounts to religious discrimination in violation of Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. BNA Daily Labor Report has more on the lawsuit.

Suit Charges Jehovah's Witness Congregation With Negligence In Employing Sexual Attacker

The Salt Lake Tribune reports on a suit filed in Utah state court last Wednesday against a Roy, Utah, Jehovah's Witness congregation, church leaders, and the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society charging negligence in allowing a man with a history of inappropriate sexual behavior to become an instructor in the church. Plaintiff alleges that she was sexually attacked by the instructor at least three times.  She also charges that the Roy church created a judicial committee to investigate whether the girl engaged in inappropriate sexual behavior, forcing plaintiff and her parents to listen to a 4-5 hour recording of one of the purported sexual attacks on her.

Canadian Appeals Court Allows Review of Church's Expulsion of a Member

In Wall v Judicial Committee of the Highwood Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses, (Alberta Ct. App., Sept. 8, 2016), the Court of Appeals of the Canadian province of Alberta held, in a 2-1 decision, that Canadian civil courts have jurisdiction to review a formal decision by a Jehovah's Witness congregation to disfellowship one of its members. The congregation's Judicial Committee took the action against the member, Randy Wall, on the basis of charges of drunkeness.  A church Appeal Committee upheld the decision over Wall's defense that his action resulted from stress over the church's previous disfellowshipping of his 15 year old daughter and the requirement that he shun aspects of his relationship with her.

The majority held that civil courts have jurisdiction to review the decision of a religious organization where the decision impacts property or civil rights, or if a breach of the rules of natural justice is alleged.  Here Wall alleged sufficient procedural irregularities to give jurisdiction to determine if rules of natural justice were breached.  The appeals court majority also held that Wall can submit new evidence to the trial court on whether the impact of shunning by fellow congregants will result in an economic impact on his real estate business.

Judge Wakeling dissenting said in part:

Relying on basic constitutional principles, I have concluded that, presumptively, religious associations – and more importantly, the constituent members – have the constitutional right to select their own members – those with whom they will worship. This decision to exclude a person from the group may be attributable to irreconcilable religious differences or perceived unacceptable forms of behaviour. One should not have to undertake such an intensely personal pursuit with those with whom they do not wish to associate. A religious association must be solely responsible for this class of decisions.

A civil court must decline to review membership decisions of a religious association....

[S]tate intervention in the affairs of religious organizations is not only contrary to the interests of a democratic community, it is also inimical to the welfare of both religious organizations and their congregants.  Whether a religion prospers and attracts new members and has influence in the greater community should be the product of the efforts of adherents of a religion and the values of the religion, not the level of support provided by state apparatus, including the judicial branch of government.

... Courts have neither the mandate nor the expertise to resolve religious doctrinal disputes.

Where one appellate judge dissents on an issue of law, an appeal as of right to Canada's Supreme Court is available. (Background.)  National Post reports on the decision.

In Discovery, Most Documents Fail Clergy-Penitent Privilege

In McFarland v. West Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses, Lorain, Ohio, Inc., (OH App., Aug. 22, 2016), an Ohio appeals court affirmed in part and reversed in part a trial court's rejection of the clergy-penitent privilege as the basis for a Jehovah's Witness congregation to refuse to produce 19 specific documents sought in discovery by a plaintiff suing over alleged sexual abuse as a minor by another church member.  The appeals court found that only four of the documents met the statutory criteria for the clergy-penitent privilege.  Communications between bodies of church elders did not qualify for the privilege.  The court rejected the argument that production of the unprivileged documents would expose the church's internal discipline procedures and beliefs regarding repentance, mercy, and redemption to external, secular scrutiny in violation of the 1st Amendment.

Jehovah's Witnesses Win Another Round In Bid To Access Gated Communities In Puerto Rico

Watchtower Bible Tract Society of New York, Inc. v. Municipality of Ponce, (D PR, July 6, 2016), is the latest installment in a 12-year battle by Jehovah's Witnesses to gain access to gated communities in Puerto Rico in order to proselytize door-to-door.  In prior decisions, the federal courts have ordered communities to grant access to Jehovah's Witnesses.  However in response certain gated communities argued that they are not subject to the court's orders because their roads and streets are completely private.  In this 50-page opinion, a Puerto Rico federal district court ruled that the streets within Estancias del Golf Club in the Municipality of Ponce are subject to the court's earlier orders  The court said in part:

Up to 2012, the residents of EGC went above and beyond to complete the last steps of the transfer of their streets to the Municipality. Suddenly, they took a one hundred eighty degree turn and demanded their streets now be private, when it became convenient to them. This Court will not allow Plaintiffs’ First  Amendment protected activity to be held hostage by the whim of residents associations within gated communities....

It has become quite common for urbanizations and some of their residents to believe it is unacceptable to have non-residents walk the streets within their gated communities. This constitutes a discriminatory pattern that our Constitution forbids....  Community gates in Puerto Rico narrow the concept of community and of individual through decisions about group social worth and social threat, about who is redeemable and who is dispensable, about who is “good” and allowable, and about who is “bad” and made to “go away.”

Jehovah's Witnesses In Puerto Rico Win Access To Additional Gated Communities To Proselytize

In 2013, a Puerto Rico federal district court, in a case on remand from the 1st Circuit, ordered neighborhood homeowners' associations (urbanizations) that operate gated communities to provide Jehovah's Witnesses who wish to proselytize in the neighborhood access equal to that of residents. (See prior posting.) There has been a good deal of resistance by urbanizations to complying with the orders, particularly because of concern about crime.

Earlier this month another lawsuit was filed by Jehovah's Witnesses against gated communities in 38 municipalities, a majority of the remaining municipalities not named as defendants in the earlier suit.  In Watchtower Bible Tract Society of New York, Inc. v. Municipality of Aguada, (D PR, Feb. 10, 2016), a Puerto Rico federal district court issued an elaborate temporary restraining order designed to facilitate maximal compliance with the right of Jehovah's Witnesses to obtain access to gated communities, particularly in light of the March 23 Memorial of the Death of Jesus Holiday.  The court ordered that urbanizations in all 38 municipalities must be open for Jehovah's Witnesses to proselytize on Saturday, February 27, 2016 from 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM. Then by March 15, all the municipalities must either notify plaintiffs that they agree to the same kind of open arrangements that were ordered in the earlier case, or else notify the court that they are defending against the lawsuit.  Municipalities that agree to go along with the earlier arrangements will be given time to confer with plaintiffs on implementing an action plan, and will avoid assessment of attorneys' fees.  Others will move to litigation.

Court Says Priest-Penitent Privilege From Reporting Child Abuse May Be Unconstitutional

Delaware Code, Title 16, Chap. 9 requires reporting of suspected child abuse or neglect to authorities. Under Sec. 909, the only privileges that excuse reporting are the attorney-client privilege and the privilege "between priest and penitent in a sacramental confession."  State of Delaware v. Laurel Delaware Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses, (DE Super., Jan. 26, 2016), is an enforcement action against elders of a Jehovah's Witness congregation who did not report a sexual relationship between a 14-year old boy and an adult female member of the congregation.  Defendants' motion to dismiss raised the question of whether this priest-penitent privilege applies to these elders. The court held that if the privilege language is read narrowly, it is unconstitutional because it creates an exception only for certain religious denominations.  Even if read more broadly to cover similar kinds of conversations with clergy, here the conversations with elders were for the purpose of seeking spiritual advice and counsel, and were likely not for the purpose of penitence. Reveal reports on the decision.

Jehovah's Witness Teacher Sues Over Valentine's Day Party Requirement

As reported on Friday by MLive, in Michigan a former teacher has sued the Southfield school system because her principal ordered her to plan a Valentine's party for her 4th grade class despite her objection that her Jehovah's Witness beliefs preclude her from celebrating St. Valentine's Day.  The complaint in Lemmons v. Southfield Public Schools, (ED MI, filed 1/4/2016), says that the teacher, Yvonne Lemmons, did not show up the day of the party, and soon afterwards the district laid her off.  Lemmons says it was retaliation.  Lemmons initially filed a complaint with the EEOC, and it found reasonable cause.

Jehovah's Witnesses In Russia Sue Over Blocking of Bible Imports

Interfax yesterday reported on a lawsuit filed in a Russian court by  the Administrative Center for Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia against customs authorities in the town of Vyborg.  According to the lawsuit filed in the St. Petersburg and Leningrad Region Arbitration Court, Customs has refused to allow into the country a shipment of Bibles from German Jehovah's Witnesses because they were not accompanied by documents certifying compliance with the Federal Law on Counteracting Extremist Activity. The shipment included the Synodal edition of the Bible (translated by the Russian Orthodox Church) and the Study Bible published by the Russian Bible Society.  According to a Nov. 30, 2015 report from Forum 18:

A new Russian legal amendment bans some sacred texts - "the Bible, the Koran, the Tanakh and the Kanjur, their contents, and quotations from them" - from being banned as "extremist". But about 4,000 Jehovah's Witness Bibles are among millions of their publications still held up at Russian customs as they may contain "extremism"....

Appeals Court Rejects Jehovah's Witnesses Venue Transfer As Delay Tactic

In Fessler v. Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc., (PA Super. Ct., Dec. 30, 2015), a Pennsylvania state appellate court held that a trial court abused its discretion in transferring a sexual abuse case against Jehovah's Witness organizations from Philadelphia County to York County. Plaintiff in the case alleged that as a teenager she was sexually abused by a middle-aged woman (also a defendant) whom she met through a Jehovah's Witness congregation.  The defendants' change of venue motion was granted just two weeks before trial was to begin, and after discovery had taken place.  The transfer was to the county with the largest civil case backlog in Pennsylvania.  The court concluded that the motion was a bad-faith "last-minute gambit to delay trial." Reveal reports on the decision.

Suit Claims Hospital's Mistake About Patient's Religion Led To Withholding Treatment

Courthouse News Service reports on a lawsuit filed last month (Oct. 13)  in a Tennessee state trial court alleging that a hospital's mistake about a patient's religious beliefs led to the patient's death.  Merle Piper was diagnosed with kidney failure, but for a number of days was denied potentially life-saving treatment because his medical chart incorrectly stated that he was a Jehovah's Witness.  Doctors though that meant he objected to such treatment.  The lawsuit against Cumberland Medical Center in Crossville, Tenn., two doctors and other John Doe defendants seeks damages for wrongful death and medical malpractice.

British Court Holds Jehovah's Witness Parent Body Vicariously Liable In Clergy Sex Abuse Case

A v. Trustees of the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, (EWHC, June 19, 2015), involves claims against a Jehovah's Witness congregation (actually its successors) and the Jehovah's Witness parent body by a 29-year old woman who between the ages of 4 and 9 was sexually abused by Peter Stewart, a Jehovah's Witness ministerial servant. A judge on England's High Court (Queen's Bench) held the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society vicariously liable for the failure of the Elders in the congregation to take reasonable steps to protect claimant from Peter Stewart after they became aware in 1990 that he had sexually assaulted another child in the congregation. The court also held defendants vicariously liable for the sexual assault itself, saying:

Whether the abuse took place at or after book study at whoever's home, on field service, at Kingdom Hall or at the Convention, he was ostensibly performing his duties as a Jehovah's Witness ministerial servant. I am satisfied that the progressive acts of intimacy were only possible because he had the actual or ostensible status of a ministerial servant that meant no one who saw him questioned his being alone with the claimant.

Law & Religion UK has more on the decision.