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ACLU of Florida In The Courts
April 2003 Edition of the ACLU of Florida Newsletter
Police Brutality:
The ACLU filed a civil rights lawsuit on behalf of the daughter of Richard Beatty, a homeless, Vietnam veteran who was shot to death by City of Miami police for allegedly threatening officers with a pocket knife. The case challenges the City of Miami's failure to train police officers to deal with the mentally ill. Ultimately Beatty was shot 14 times by a police officer when the police failed to dislodge the knife from his hand. The city's police chief had been personally warned by a county court judge about the city's failure to implement a program to deal with police encounters with mentally ill individuals. Cooperating attorney Gregory Samms and South Florida Legal Counsel Rosalind Matos-Dammert.
Juvenile Curfew: After 17-year-old Tiffany McFarlane was arrested and criminally prosecuted in juvenile court for violating a City of Pinellas Park juvenile curfew ordinance, the ACLU undertook her defense and filed a motion to dismiss the charges of curfew violation on the ground that the juvenile curfew ordinance is unconstitutional. That was July 1997. The case is still in court. The law was declared unconstitutional in 1998 by a Pinellas County Circuit Court. But, the Second District Court of Appeals reversed the circuit court's finding, and left it up to the Florida Supreme Court to decide what level of scrutiny should be applied when reviewing the constitutionality of the law. The Florida Supreme Court ruled that strict scrutiny applies and remanded the case back to the Court of Appeals for review under the appropriate standard. In August, the 2nd DCA ruled the ordinance unconstitutional under a strict scrutiny analysis. The case has again gone up to the Florida Supreme Court and is scheduled for oral argument this month. Cooperating attorney: Bruce Howie, Piper Ludin Howie & Werner, P.A., St. Petersburg.
Discrimination: The ACLU's Palm Beach Chapter and two housing providers for persons recovering from drug or alcohol addiction challenged a Boca Raton zoning ordinance that bans recovering addicts from living in the city's residential areas. Filed on behalf of two housing providers, Boca House and Awakenings, and seven recovering addicts, the lawsuit charges the city with violating federal laws that prohibit discrimination against persons with disabilities. The recovering alcoholics and drug addicts are "persons with disabilities" under federal law. Cooperating attorneys Gerry S. Gibson, Gabriel E. Nieto and Ed Lombard of the law firm of Steel Hector & Davis LLP and James Green.
Religious Liberty: Sultaana Freeman is a Muslim who wears a Niqab (a veil that covers the head and face except for eyes) whenever she is in public. Shortly after 9-11, the State of Florida ordered Ms. Freeman to have her picture taken without the veil or the license would be suspended, even though she had been issued a Florida license wearing her veil in February 2001. (She also held an Illinois driver's license wearing a Niqab prior to moving to Florida). Because of her religious beliefs regarding the Niqab, she did not consent to have her picture taken without it and the license was suspended. The ACLU brought a claim under Florida's Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA). The court denied the state's motion to dismiss the case and ordered that the case proceed. A companion case seeking a state issued identification card has been filed and consolidated with the original action. Cooperating attorney: Howard Marks, Winter Haven. Randall Marshall is also counsel of record.
Free Expression: The ACLU of Florida went to court to defend the free speech rights of naturists after the state sought to block a portion of an anti-war demonstration involving the creation of a peace symbol comprised of nude bodies. The nude demonstration was scheduled to take place on February 14 at John D. MacArthur Beach State Park on Singer Island in Palm Beach County. The day before, U.S. District Court Judge Donald M. Middlebrooks issued a preliminary injunction prohibiting the State of Florida from interfering with the demonstration. Judge Middlebrooks ruled that "nude overtly political speech in the form of a 'living, nude peace symbol' is expressive conduct well within the ambit of the First Amendment." Randall Marshall, Legal Director, and James Green, cooperating attorney.
