CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) - The town of Jackson paid $10,000 to settle a federal lawsuit over the arrest of a Kansas anti-abortion protester, records show.
Mark Holick, a pastor with Spirit One Christian Ministries in Wichita, sued the town and police officials after his 2011 arrest on the town square. He received payments to settle the case last month.
The town released records showing its settlement payment in response to a request from The Associated Press. The town also paid a $1,000 insurance deductible to the state Local Government Liability Pool, an insurance entity that pools money from local governments to cover claims.
Holick’s arrest came shortly after Jackson officials secured a state court order barring anti-abortion protesters from appearing on the town square. His lawsuit charged that the arrest violated his civil rights.
The state of Wyoming earlier announced that it had paid $60,000 in the case to settle claims against two Jackson police officers while the Local Government Liability Pool said it paid $155,000 in the case.
Etna lawyer Jack Edwards represents Holick.
“The settlement amount speaks for itself and reinforces the idea that everyone has the right to exercise their right to free speech, and their religion, in the public square,” Edwards said Thursday. “What happens is sometimes I think that government officials forget the importance of the First Amendment, and that their job is to uphold the Constitution. That’s the oath that they swore, to do just that.”
Holick’s federal lawsuit stated that Jackson police Lt. Robert Gilliam arrested him as he was preaching on the town square. The suit named Gilliam and Jackson Police Chief Todd Smith as defendants. The Wyoming Attorney General’s Office got involved in the case because it defends police officers accused of civil rights violations.
Wyoming Attorney General Peter Michael said recently that Gilliam and Smith maintained their denial of any liability in the settlement agreement.
Holick’s arrest came shortly after Jackson officials secured a state court order barring anti-abortion protesters from appearing on the town square. The 2011 anti-abortion protest happened the same weekend as an auction of elk antlers that had been collected by Boy Scouts.
Protesters stationed themselves around the town, displaying pictures, including some showing aborted fetuses. Holick states in his lawsuit that he was arrested as he was preaching on the town square but not showing any pictures.
The protesters targeted Jackson because a physician there has been open about his willingness to perform abortions as part of his medical practice.
The Wyoming Supreme Court ruled in 2012 that the lower court order banning anti-abortion protesters from the town square violated protesters’ rights. The protesters weren’t alerted in advance that the town had requested the court order banning them from the town square.
Audrey Cohen-Davis, lawyer for the town of Jackson, said this week she’s not aware of any change in town policies as a result of Holick’s federal lawsuit. She said anti-abortion protesters got a permit to be on the town square the year after their initial visit.
Cohen-Davis said the town’s action to settle the lawsuit was the result of a business decision by its insurance carrier.
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