Ernest Perce V – American Atheists' Pennsylvania State Director – may soon be spending time in jail because he released audio footage -- via a Youtube video -- of a court proceeding that occurred as a result of him allegedly being attacked by a Muslim man while dressing as 'Zombie Mohammad' in a 2011 Halloween parade in Mechanicsburg, PA. According to the description of a released video by Perce, Judge Mark Martin – the presiding judge of the court proceeding -- is threatening to hold Perce in contempt of court for releasing recorded audio of the case even though, according to Perce, Perce was given permission to release the audio.
Commenting for this article, Perce notes that he released the video because he believes that he was treated unfairly and contends that his alleged assailant had been shown preferential treatment by Judge Mark Martin. Perce says he also released the video because he wants persons to evaluate the audio from the court proceeding. Some noteworthy portions of the video are as follows:
Judge Mark Martin, during his opinion at the end of the video, says,
Well, having had the benefit of having spent over two and a half years in predominantly Muslim countries, I think I know a little bit about the faith of Islam. In fact, I have a copy of the Koran here and I would challenge you sir to show me where it says in the Koran that Mohammad arose and walked among the dead. Uh, I think you misinterpreted a couple of things, so before you start mocking somebody else's religion, you might want to find out a little bit more about it. It kind of makes you look like a doofus.
The judge also described -- at length -- Muslim practices such as prayer, greetings and pilgrimages following up with, referring to Perce's dressing as 'Zombie Mohammad,' “And what you've done is you've completely trashed their essence, their being. They find it very, very, very offensive. I'm a Muslim. I find it offensive. […] But you have that right, but you are way outside your bounds of First Amendment rights.”
After this, and other discussion, the judge said, referring to the defendant,
If his intent was to harass, annoy or alarm, I think there would have been a little bit more of an altercation, something far more substantial as far as testimony going on that there was a conflict. Because there was not, it is not proven to me beyond a reasonable doubt that this defendant is guilty of harassment. Therefore, I am going to dismiss the charge.
Perce, in the description section of the video, encourages persons to make a decision as to whether Judge Mark Martin had acted appropriately or not and contact the judge via telephone.
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