What really happened in the Pennsylvania "zombie Mohammed" case?
The story that flew around the blogosphere last week was
guaranteed to cause an uproar: A Muslim assaults an atheist for
mocking Mohammed, and a Muslim judge dismisses the charges and
berates the victim—and it all happens here in America. Suddenly,
warnings about the threat of Sharia law on our shores got a strong
boost.
In fact, there was no "Sharia court," and the
judge is not a Muslim. But, however egregious the misreporting of
the story and the
vilification of the judge—Cumberland Country, Pennsylvania
magistrate Mark W. Martin, who graciously answered my queries in an
email exchange—the actual facts of the story are troubling. Judge
Martin's intent may have been entirely benign, but his handling of
the case sends a bad message not only about freedom of speech, but
about the place of Islam in American culture.
It all started with a Halloween parade in which Ernest Perce V, head of the state chapter of American Atheists, marched as "Zombie Mohammed" with turban, fake beard, and chants of "I am the prophet Mohammed, zombie from the dead." (A fellow atheist activist was "Zombie Pope.") An offended Muslim immigrant, Talaag Elbayomy, approached Perce and threatened to call the police, apparently believing that such blasphemy was against the law; Perce claims Elbayomy spun him around and grabbed his neck while trying to pull off his beard and his "Mohammed of Islam" sign. Elbayomy was charged with harassment.
On December 6, Judge Martin dismissed the case for lack of evidence. He also gave Perce a lengthy tongue-lashing, chastising him for everything from ignorance of Islam to failure to understand the importance of religion to Muslims to an "ugly American" disregard for other cultures. Noting that Perce's actions would have been punishable by death in many Muslim countries, he continued, "Here in our society, we have a constitution that gives us many rights, specifically First Amendment rights. It's unfortunate that some people use the First Amendment to deliberately provoke others." He told Perce that while he had the right to be offensive, "you’re way outside your bounds on First Amendment rights."
But what got people's attention was a passage in which Martin said that Muslims find such conduct "very, very offensive"—and added what sounded like, "I'm a Muslim, I find it offensive."
Perce pounced on Martin's alleged admission of Muslim faith, repeatedly flogging it in the 37-minute YouTube clip (an audio recording of the trial with his scrolling transcript and commentary). The blogpost on the American Atheists website was headlined, "Muslim Attacks Atheist. Muslim Judge Dismisses Case, Blames Victim." Dozens of blogs ran with the story, some embellishing it to describe Martin, an Iraq veteran, as "a convert to Islam" (perhaps because his background made him an unlikely Muslim).
Almost immediately, a news site quoted a court secretary as denying that Judge Martin was a Muslim. Then, a statement from the judge himself was posted on several blogs, explaining his decision and asserting that he was not Muslim but Lutheran. National Review writer Andrew McCarthy, a strong anti-Islam polemicist who had first reported the case as an outrage by a Muslim judge, backtracked and amended his transcribed version to the hypothetical, "If I'm a Muslim, I'd find it offensive."
From my review of the audio, I believe the words are, "I'm not Muslim, I find it offensive"—with the "not" spoken so quickly it sounds like a single vowel. (There is nothing unusual about such skipping over short words: later in Perce's transcript, "two sides of the story" is rendered as "two sides [?] the story," with the "of" barely audible.) I can hear the "not" when listening closely; many posters on blogs and forums have picked up on it as well, including ones harshly critical of the judge. Some pointed this out before there were any official denials of his being Muslim.
Judge Martin, who graciously answered my queries in an email, told me he could not recall exactly what he said at that point. But either way, in context, "I'm a Muslim" makes no sense. The audio shows that Martin consistently refers to Muslims as "them," and says that he knows "a little bit about the faith of Islam" due to having spent over two years in a predominantly Muslim country. He certainly does not, as the American Atheists blogpost asserts, proclaim "how strongly he embraces Islam."
Was the dismissal of the harassment charge improper? Probably not; here, too, the facts have been treated quite loosely.
Thus, it has been widely claimed that a cell phone video corroborates Perce's complaint, contradicting Judge Martin's assertion that it was one man's word against another's. On the National Review blog, McCarthy writes that the video "does not depict the assault but it shows there was a sudden disturbance." Yet the only thing the poor-quality video definitely supports is Elbayomy's statement that he approached "Zombie Mohammed," told him to stop and said he would "call the cops." Then shouts erupt, but what's happening is unclear; Perce's subtitles assert, "He's choking me!", but a moment later Perce resumes his "I am Mohammed" chant unfazed.
McCarthy also writes that "a police officer would have testified that Elbayomy admitted attacking Perce," implying that this testimony was disallowed by the judge. This seems to be a misinterpretation of reports alleging that Judge Martin refused to consider the officer's testimony—originating with this garbled statement in the American Atheists posting: "A Police Officer who was at the scene also testified on Mr. Perce’s behalf, to which the Judge also dismissed by saying the officer didn’t give an accurate account or doesn’t give it any weight" (sic).
But on the audio, Judge Martin says nothing of the sort, only that the testimony did not prove harassment beyond a reasonable doubt. The officer, Sgt. Brian Curtis, actually played a key role in the trial, in the unusual dual role of eyewitness and prosecutor cross-examining the defendant. Curtis, who had interviewed both men on the scene but taken no statement, testified that Elbayomy had admitted to "physical contact" with Perce during the argument—though not to any specific acts such as grabbing or choking. In his own testimony, Elbayomy (whose English is limited) insisted that there had been only a verbal confrontation, and that if he had previously admitted to "physical contact" he might have meant Perce pushing him.
With such conflicting testimony, Judge Martin's decision to dismiss the case is entirely reasonable. The way in which he used his position as a bully pulpit is another story.
It is not unusual for judges to admonish the parties in a case, sometimes harshly, about their conduct. In this instance, though, the lecture was startlingly one-sided. Judge Martin lambasted Perce for his disrespect for other people's culture and faith while not one critical word was spoken to Elbayomy.
In fact, there was no "Sharia court," and the
judge is not a Muslim. But, however egregious the misreporting of
the story and the
vilification of the judge—Cumberland Country, Pennsylvania
magistrate Mark W. Martin, who graciously answered my queries in an
email exchange—the actual facts of the story are troubling. Judge
Martin's intent may have been entirely benign, but his handling of
the case sends a bad message not only about freedom of speech, but
about the place of Islam in American culture.It all started with a Halloween parade in which Ernest Perce V, head of the state chapter of American Atheists, marched as "Zombie Mohammed" with turban, fake beard, and chants of "I am the prophet Mohammed, zombie from the dead." (A fellow atheist activist was "Zombie Pope.") An offended Muslim immigrant, Talaag Elbayomy, approached Perce and threatened to call the police, apparently believing that such blasphemy was against the law; Perce claims Elbayomy spun him around and grabbed his neck while trying to pull off his beard and his "Mohammed of Islam" sign. Elbayomy was charged with harassment.
On December 6, Judge Martin dismissed the case for lack of evidence. He also gave Perce a lengthy tongue-lashing, chastising him for everything from ignorance of Islam to failure to understand the importance of religion to Muslims to an "ugly American" disregard for other cultures. Noting that Perce's actions would have been punishable by death in many Muslim countries, he continued, "Here in our society, we have a constitution that gives us many rights, specifically First Amendment rights. It's unfortunate that some people use the First Amendment to deliberately provoke others." He told Perce that while he had the right to be offensive, "you’re way outside your bounds on First Amendment rights."
But what got people's attention was a passage in which Martin said that Muslims find such conduct "very, very offensive"—and added what sounded like, "I'm a Muslim, I find it offensive."
Perce pounced on Martin's alleged admission of Muslim faith, repeatedly flogging it in the 37-minute YouTube clip (an audio recording of the trial with his scrolling transcript and commentary). The blogpost on the American Atheists website was headlined, "Muslim Attacks Atheist. Muslim Judge Dismisses Case, Blames Victim." Dozens of blogs ran with the story, some embellishing it to describe Martin, an Iraq veteran, as "a convert to Islam" (perhaps because his background made him an unlikely Muslim).
Almost immediately, a news site quoted a court secretary as denying that Judge Martin was a Muslim. Then, a statement from the judge himself was posted on several blogs, explaining his decision and asserting that he was not Muslim but Lutheran. National Review writer Andrew McCarthy, a strong anti-Islam polemicist who had first reported the case as an outrage by a Muslim judge, backtracked and amended his transcribed version to the hypothetical, "If I'm a Muslim, I'd find it offensive."
From my review of the audio, I believe the words are, "I'm not Muslim, I find it offensive"—with the "not" spoken so quickly it sounds like a single vowel. (There is nothing unusual about such skipping over short words: later in Perce's transcript, "two sides of the story" is rendered as "two sides [?] the story," with the "of" barely audible.) I can hear the "not" when listening closely; many posters on blogs and forums have picked up on it as well, including ones harshly critical of the judge. Some pointed this out before there were any official denials of his being Muslim.
Judge Martin, who graciously answered my queries in an email, told me he could not recall exactly what he said at that point. But either way, in context, "I'm a Muslim" makes no sense. The audio shows that Martin consistently refers to Muslims as "them," and says that he knows "a little bit about the faith of Islam" due to having spent over two years in a predominantly Muslim country. He certainly does not, as the American Atheists blogpost asserts, proclaim "how strongly he embraces Islam."
Was the dismissal of the harassment charge improper? Probably not; here, too, the facts have been treated quite loosely.
Thus, it has been widely claimed that a cell phone video corroborates Perce's complaint, contradicting Judge Martin's assertion that it was one man's word against another's. On the National Review blog, McCarthy writes that the video "does not depict the assault but it shows there was a sudden disturbance." Yet the only thing the poor-quality video definitely supports is Elbayomy's statement that he approached "Zombie Mohammed," told him to stop and said he would "call the cops." Then shouts erupt, but what's happening is unclear; Perce's subtitles assert, "He's choking me!", but a moment later Perce resumes his "I am Mohammed" chant unfazed.
McCarthy also writes that "a police officer would have testified that Elbayomy admitted attacking Perce," implying that this testimony was disallowed by the judge. This seems to be a misinterpretation of reports alleging that Judge Martin refused to consider the officer's testimony—originating with this garbled statement in the American Atheists posting: "A Police Officer who was at the scene also testified on Mr. Perce’s behalf, to which the Judge also dismissed by saying the officer didn’t give an accurate account or doesn’t give it any weight" (sic).
But on the audio, Judge Martin says nothing of the sort, only that the testimony did not prove harassment beyond a reasonable doubt. The officer, Sgt. Brian Curtis, actually played a key role in the trial, in the unusual dual role of eyewitness and prosecutor cross-examining the defendant. Curtis, who had interviewed both men on the scene but taken no statement, testified that Elbayomy had admitted to "physical contact" with Perce during the argument—though not to any specific acts such as grabbing or choking. In his own testimony, Elbayomy (whose English is limited) insisted that there had been only a verbal confrontation, and that if he had previously admitted to "physical contact" he might have meant Perce pushing him.
With such conflicting testimony, Judge Martin's decision to dismiss the case is entirely reasonable. The way in which he used his position as a bully pulpit is another story.
It is not unusual for judges to admonish the parties in a case, sometimes harshly, about their conduct. In this instance, though, the lecture was startlingly one-sided. Judge Martin lambasted Perce for his disrespect for other people's culture and faith while not one critical word was spoken to Elbayomy.
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