Dad of fallen marine ordered to pay

[frogmarch]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/csm/20100331/ts_csm/291560

Excerpt:

Dad of a fallen Marine perseveres against protests at military funerals

By Gordon Lubold Gordon Lubold
Tue Mar 30, 8:09 pm ET

Washington – A father of a Marine killed in Iraq says he won't pay the legal fees of a protest group who picketed at his son's funeral in 2006 – at least not until he hears from the US Supreme Court on the matter.

Update from The Newsroom: Bill O'Reilly has offered to foot the bill.

Albert Snyder, whose son, Lance Cpl. Matthew Snyder, was killed in Iraq, learned Friday that a federal appeals court is requiring him to pay more than $16,000 in legal fees to the Westboro Baptist Church, a Christian fundamentalist group that demonstrates during military funerals to gain attention for its antigovernment, antihomosexual message. The group rallied at Matthew Snyder’s funeral in March 2006 in Westminster, Md., chanting antigay slogans and carrying signs such as “Thank God for dead soldiers,” says Albert Snyder’s attorney, Sean Summers.

The group was protesting about 30 feet from the church’s main entrance, and Mr. Snyder had to enter through a separate entrance, Mr. Summers says.

Snyder subsequently sued the Westboro group for emotional distress and won a $5 million judgment. But on appeal, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed, finding in favor of protecting the protesters' free-speech rights. About three weeks ago, the Supreme Court agreed to take the case and is expected to hear it in the fall. (Last year, the high court had declined to take up the issue.) Meanwhile, the circuit court has ordered Snyder, a salesman, to pay the church’s court expenses.

[KILL THE WISE ONE]

1. I hope Bill O ..... actually pays it now.

[frogmarch]

2. If he does, and

doesn't brag about it, well, that'll be one good thing he's done.