You may recall a story from last December, involving a self-described "catholic warrior" who took it upon herself to remove a religious display in the Florida capital building rotunda. Susan Hemeryck walked into the capital building, and yanked the display from the wire it was connected to, and attempted to leave with it. She was stopped by Capital Police.
She does not deny any of this. Indeed, she has expressed regret for not destroying the display more. According to Raw Story:
Hemeryck then, in her own words, “yanked that little devil off the fishing line.” Her only regret, she told the Associated Press, was that “I should have just done a better job and finished it off for good.”
Now, this is not an ambiguous case. Hemeryck admitted to the crime. She was caught on video committing the crime. She says intent was to steal and destroy the display, saying to the Capital Police beforehand:
“sorry, but I have to take this down.”
Hemeryck was prepared to go to trial, believing that her religion belonged in the Florida State Capital, but others were 'offensive.' Seemed like it should have been a slam dunk case.
Yet, inexplicably, the charges against Hemeryck were dropped with only hours to go before a jury was selected. This was no plea deal made by Hemeryck, the charges were just dropped. Apparently, the damage wasn't considered sufficient enough to warrant charges. Which is odd, because I thought theft was also a crime. As Americans United points out:
Hmmmm. Maybe that’s because she was trying to steal it? As for the damage, Hemeryck bragged about pulling the angel off the fishing line. Yes, the diorama was reassembled, with the angel standing in the flames – but there was damage. Hemeryck herself admitted that.
But according to officials in the state attorney’s office, none of this matters – because the diorama isn’t fancy enough.
I didn't realize you could vandalize the property of others, so long as it isn't fancy, or if it's not high priced. Imagine if, say, a nativity made of cardboard was treated the way this display was by Hemeryck. The outcry would be vicious and immediate.
I'm not religious, I'm not a member of any Satanic Temple, but once you open government property to one religion, you open it to all, including the ones you may find offensive. Hemeryck did something more than wrong, she broke the law, and is not being punished at all. Some sort of community service should have been in order. Oh, and Hemeryck still shows no remorse:
“I was not afraid of going to trial,” Hemeryck told the Tallahassee Democrat. “I wanted the jury to know that I did not act criminally as wrongly portrayed, but [as] a devout Catholic following the church’s teaching for non-violent and peaceful opposition of evil.”
In other words, she's going to do it again, so anyone placing religious displays in the Florida state capital rotunda should remember that and plan accordingly.
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