Two abortion foes arrested at protest in Little Rock lose lawsuit

A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed against Little Rock by two men who were arrested while protesting outside an abortion clinic in the city in 2012.

Ronald Duhe of Springfield, Mo., and Mark Holick of Wichita, Kan., were arrested by Little Rock police while protesting outside Little Rock Family Planning Services using a megaphone.

Duhe, Holick and about four other people were "peacefully exercising their First Amendment Rights on public property," according to the lawsuit, when police received noise complaints from surrounding businesses.

Duhe's refusal to turn down his megaphone's volume when confronted by police Lt. Sidney Allen prompted the arrests. Duhe and Holick were charged with disorderly conduct on the morning of Sept. 14, 2012, at 904 Office Park Drive. According to the lawsuit, 22 officers responded to the scene.

Two years later -- through attorneys from Wyoming, Colorado and Jonesboro -- Duhe, Holick and the Kansas-based Spirit One Christian Center, sued Allen and the city in federal court. In 2015, Pulaski County was added as a defendant.

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The lawsuit argued that the men's First, Fourth, and 14th Amendment rights had been violated. The suit also said officers never ordered the men to decrease the volume on their amplifier and that the men were arrested without warning.

City Attorney Tom Carpenter said the men were asked repeatedly to decrease the volume before the arrests.

"Of course, the City recognized a First Amendment right to protest on public property, but noted that the sound was too loud and that there was a need to turn it down," Carpenter said in an email Friday. "Only after repeated refusals to do so, [the plaintiffs] were required to stop and were arrested in violation of City ordinances."

On Friday, U.S. District Judge Kristine Baker of the Eastern District of Arkansas entered a summary judgment siding with the city, Allen and Pulaski County.

Metro on 04/01/2017

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