Appeals court rules Eugene street preacher was wrongly convicted

SALEM -- A street preacher in Eugene who appeared to accuse passers-by of various sins was wrongly convicted of disorderly conduct and should not have been fined $100 two years ago, the state Court of Appeals ruled Oct. 31.

The court found that the religious opinions expressed by Daniel Lee, although upsetting to some listeners, were nonetheless protected under free speech provisions.

Lee, who at the time was a 20-year-old student at Gutenberg College, a small Christian college in Eugene, was preaching on the Eugene Mall on April 16, 1999, when police officers handcuffed him and changed him with disorderly conduct.

“Basically it came down to people being very offended by the message I was preaching,” Lee told the Register-Guard newspaper of Eugene two years ago.

But the arresting officer said Lee called passersby such terms as “whores,” “sex mongers” and “drunkards” and was on the verge of promoting a fight. When Lee told a woman who was kissing her fiance she was a whore and was going to hell, the couple complained to police, who arrested Lee.

Police said as many as 35 people had surrounded Lee and that his actions violated a city ordinance against “violent, tumultous or threatening behavior.” He also was charged with unreasonable noise violations and obstructing pedestrian traffic.

Lee’s legal counsel maintained that Lee was not addressing anyone in particular when he preached against drugs, alcohol and sexual promiscuity and that the language Lee used came straight from the Bible and was therefore protected speech.

In its reversal of the conviction, the appeals court said Lee violated none of the prohibitions.

The court noted there was no evidence that Lee engaged in any physical aggression. It noted that authorities had only cited the content of Lee’s speech when they claimed he caused a public annoyance due to noise.

The appeals panel added that Lee did not obstruct pedestrians, because those who didn’t want to listen to his preaching were free to walk on.