Issues@Hand

AFA initiatives, Christian activism, news briefs

June 2005 – In a case charging Temple University with violation of the rights of a Christian student, the jury ruled in favor of the school in March. However, irregularities in the trial and potential juror misconduct may mean more legal battles. 

The AFA Center for Law & Policy (CLP) has been representing Michael Marcavage who, in the fall of 1999, was a student at the Philadelphia university. Marcavage says school officials had him committed to a state mental hospital and forced him to undergo an involuntary mental examination after he attempted to promote a Christian response to the on-campus performance of an anti-Christian play. The school claimed Marcavage was a danger to himself and others. 

Steve Crampton, CLP chief counsel, said mistakes made in the trial necessitate further action. "The judge incorrectly instructed the jury on Pennsylvania law and left the jury with little choice but to find as it did for Temple University and its officials, and we were prohibited from introducing our most compelling evidence," Crampton said. 

Before the trial started, medical evidence from doctors who examined Marcavage at Temple University’s psychiatric hospital, where he was admitted, was ruled inadmissible by the judge even though it established that Marcavage should not have been brought to the hospital. 

Moreover, one of the jurors in the case contacted CLP attorneys after the trial ended with evidence of potential jury misconduct. He cited the statements of several other jurors that clearly indicated prejudice against religious people in general and Christians in particular. 

The juror stated that one man on the jury, a teacher, told other jurors during deliberations that Christian kids were the worst ones in his classes because "they all lie." The man went on to name Jimmy Swaggart and Jim Bakker as famous Christians who had lied. 

Another woman on the jury allegedly said that all religious people lie, and that Christians, specifically, are greedy. She vowed that she was going to ensure that Marcavage did not "get a dime." 

Because of these issues, the CLP will be asking the presiding judge for a new trial in federal district court. If that is refused, the CLP will file an appeal in the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.