Preacher appeals conviction for criticizing Benton Harbor officials

Rev. Edward Pinkney, the 60-year-old a Baptist preacher from Benton Harbor who has been in jail for nearly a year for criticizing Berrien County officials in an article that ran in a Chicago newspaper, is appealing his three- to 10-year sentence with the help of the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan.

Pinkney is a well known political figure in Benton Harbor, one of Michigan’s poorest and most racially segregated towns. He has been a prominent critic of the county’s criminal justice system and of efforts by the locally based Whirlpool corporation to build a golf course on the town’s lakefront park.

In May 2007 Pinkney was sentenced to a term of probation by Berrien County Chief Judge Alfred Butzbaugh following his conviction of election law violations in connection with a campaign to recall one of Benton Harbor’s most prominent politicians. Pinkney and the Black Autonomy Network Community Organization (BANCO) sought to recall Benton Harbor City Commissioner Glen Yarborough, who was seen as supportive of corrupt police practices and instrumental in Whirlpool’s plans to build a private golf course over part of the city’s public lakefront. This project, known as Harbor Shores, is now under construction. Pinkney’s appeal of his conviction is pending in the state court of appeals.

Last November, in an editorial published in the Chicago People’s Tribune, Pinkney criticized the Berrien County judicial system and Butzbaugh. Pinkney protested that the all-white jury that convicted him was motivated “by something other than the pursuit of truth and justice.” He said that the Berrien County court “customarily and regularly deprives Blacks and Hispanics of due process” and that Butzbaugh denied him a public trial by shutting observers out of the courtroom.

He wrote that Buztbaugh was dumb, corrupt and racist and, paraphrasing a passage in the Bible, said that God will punish those who persist in the path of injustice.

The article came to the attention of Pinkney’s probation officer, James Pjesky, who claimed that the statements violated the conditions of Pinkney’s probation. Those conditions prohibit him from engaging in any “assaultive, abusive, defamatory, demeaning, harassing, violent, threatening, intimidating behavior, including the use, through any electronic or print media under your care, custody or control, of the mail or internet.” Pinkney was arrested last December.

At a probation revocation hearing last December Butzbaugh found that the “corrupt” “racist “and “dumb” comments were constitutionally protected speech but ruled that Pinkney’s paraphrase of Deuternomy constituted a threat against him. He recused himself from arguments about Pinkney’s probation violation but ruled against granting bond to Pinkney.

In March Judge Dennis M. Wiley found that Pinkney’s writing about what God would do to Butzbaugh did constitute a threat.

“First time in modern history that a preacher has been imprisoned for predicting what God might do,” Michael Steinberg of the Michigan ACLU told Michigan Messenger.

“It would be different it he said, ‘We are going to burn down your house‘ — that is not protected speech,” Steinberg said. “Quoting the Bible about what a deity might do is not a threat. To conclude it was a threat a court would have to conclude that he had the power to order God to do harm. … a court is not supposed to be an arbiter of what religious beliefs are true.”

According to a court transcript Judge Wiley said :

“In this case, there clearly is a threat not of what Mister Pinkney, himself, is going to do, but calling down the divine powers of God to have this done. …

Those are words that would … put the fear of God into anybody, as a threat that this could happen to them if they do not do what Mister Pinkney wants them to do, whatever that might be.

[T]he article … says “by Reverend Edward Pinkney,” which attempts to legitimize these remarks regarding God in that, because of his status as [a] Reverend, that he has some particular … direct line to the Lord, and that he is knowledgeable that the Lord is going to do these things.

[T]he implication here is that you’re not doing what I want you to do and therefore, I’m going to invoke these divine powers if you don’t do what I want you to do.”

Wiley found Pinkney guilty of a probation violation, revoked his probation and resentenced him to three to 10 years on the election law violations.

ACLU says this is unfair.

“The length of the sentence in this case is extraordinary and we think it is disproportionate and we don’t think he violated his probation,“ Steinberg said.

“Making a threat is illegal …in this case Pinkney was engaging in criticism of a elected official which carries the strongest constitutional protections. In order to punish somebody it has to be a true threat, [Pinkney] hasn’t threatened to hurt the judge in any way shape or form.”

Steinberg said the ACLU is seeking Pinkney’s release from prison pending his appeal before the court which could take a year.

Pinkney is being held in the Ojibway correctional facility, in the far western Upper Peninsula, 600 miles from Benton Harbor.

“Rev. Pinkney poses no flight risk or harm to the community and he should not remain in prison while this court considers his substantial First Amendment arguments,” the ACLU argued in its brief. “If the First Amendment means anything, it means that the government cannot imprison a citizen for criticizing a public official — even if the criticism is harsh and offensive and even if the public official is a judge.”

In its brief, the ACLU points out the Pinkney always appeared as required while serving probation required by his original sentence. It also points out that as a court watcher in Berrien County Pinkney was known for appearing in the court even when he was not ordered to do so.