Court rules against officer who arrested man reading Bible aloud outside California DMV

A federal appeals court has ruled that a police officer had no probable cause to arrest a preacher who read the Bible out loud outside the office of the California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV).

Mark Mackey was arrested in February 2011 when he went to the DMV in Hemet with his pastor, Brett Coronado, and his friend, Edward Florez Jr., to evangelize to those who were waiting for the facility to open, Christian News reported.

Soon after Mackey began reading aloud from the Bible, a security officer asked him to move elsewhere. He continued reading from the scriptures, but he was arrested when California patrol officer Darren Meyer arrived on the scene. Meyer asserted that the men could not "preach to a captive audience."

Another officer arrested Mackey's companions for "impeding an open business."

After the men were released, they filed a lawsuit against Meyer and the California Highway Patrol with the help of the Christian legal organization Advocates for Faith and Freedom.

In response to the lawsuit, Riverside County District Attorney Paul Zellerbach charged Mackey and Coronado with trespassing for failing to obtain a permit to conduct a "demonstration or gathering in or upon any state buildings or grounds."

In 2013, Mackey and Coronado were declared not guilty after the prosecution failed to prove that the men drew the crowd as opposed to merely speaking in the vicinity of the people who were waiting outside the DMV.

Following his exoneration, Mackey requested that his civil suit against Meyer be resumed. In 2015, District Court Judge Molly Gee ruled in favor of Meyer, who argued that he was entitled to qualified immunity because he had reason to arrest Mackey.

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a lower court decision, stating that Meyer was wrong in arresting Mackey.

Meyer asserted that the preaching caused a verbal altercation with people outside the office, but the court found a discrepancy between the officer's claim and the video evidence.

"That version of events is completely belied by video and audio footage which does not reveal any confrontations whatsoever, and merely shows Mackey reading the Bible aloud somewhat apart from people standing in line," the court noted.

The case was remanded back to the lower court to handle further proceedings.

"An innocent man exercising his religious liberty and free speech was criminally prosecuted based on erroneous claims put forth by a false and deceitful police report," said Robert Tyler, one of Mackey's attorneys. "Today's decision renews my hope in the justice system," he added.