Lonnie, Lonnie Lonnie Get Your Verdict Here! Latham Verdict Expected Within 2 Weeks

[Ian David]

Former Pastor Insists He Did Nothing Illegal
KOTV - 2/22/2007 9:12 PM - Updated 2/23/2007 9:10 AM

A former Tulsa pastor is headed back to court. Lonnie Latham is on trial in Oklahoma City, facing a misdemeanor charge of offering to engage in a lewd act.


"Yumm... I'd like to get into my lawyer's briefs. I wonder if Edward James Olmos will play me in the made-for-TV movie?"

The arrest last year sent shockwaves through much of the Southern Baptist community in Oklahoma, since Latham had been involved in the church on a national level. News On 6 crime reporter Lori Fullbright reports Reverend Lonnie Latham was very outspoken against homosexuality before he was accused of approaching a male undercover police officer in Oklahoma City for a sex act.

Oklahoma City Police were working the area after receiving complaints. Latham decided against having a jury decide his fate and will be tried in front of a judge only. His attorney asked the judge to throw out the charge. He says the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that asking for a sexual act between two consenting adults is legal. He argues Latham simply asked someone to do something legal, which is not a crime.

Prosecutors say the government has a legitimate interest in regulating offers for lewd acts. Both sides have agreed Latham never offered money to the undercover officer and the police report will be the only evidence presented.

<snip>

The judge will make a decision on the request to throw out the charge in the next couple of weeks. If Latham is found guilty, he faces up to a year in jail and up to a $2,500 fine.

More:
http://www.kotv.com/news/local/story/?id=120978

[TechBear_Seattle]

1. You gotta love it when

... the hypocrites are forced to acknowledge the error of their ways. It is even better when they face prison time because of their hypocricy.

[BOSSHOG]

2. That would be lonnie DUBYA latham

Oh those shock waves rushing through the baptist community. It just warms the cockles of my heart to know a constitution hating hypocritical bastard is using constitutional rights as a defense. Surely there is some superduper baptist therapy he can go through to "cure" him. Maybe he and haggard can swap congregations.

[skypilot]

3. i'm glad his hypocrisy has been exposed but...

...I don't think this should ever have become a criminal matter and I hope that his humiliation will be his punishment. To say that the government has a legitimate interest in regulating offers for lewd acts is opening a can of worms that I'm sure most people on this board and in this country would rather not see opened.

[Lenore]

4. Dislike the man all you want...

It is not in our best interest for the government to police whether or not I can ask you if you want to sleep with me (or vise versa).

Yes Latham is a hypocrite who will stand accountable before Father God, however, asking another adult to get nasty hasn't been made a crime. Yet!

I just wanted to put this out there to keep some perspective on the issue. Heck, even the ACLU is siding with the two faced minister over this one 'cause it isn't about whether or not Latham is a hypocrite. This is about whether or not he broke the law.

::snip::

Both sides agree there was no offer of money, but prosecutor Scott Rowland said there is a ''legitimate governmental interest'' in regulating offers of acts of lewdness. The American Civil Liberties Union of Oklahoma has filed a brief claiming that Latham's arrest also violated his right to free speech.

::end snip::

http://www.advocate.com/news_detail_ektid42264.asp

ACLU Amicus Brief: http://www.aclu.org/images/asset_upload_file535_24027.pdf

Oklahoma Courts Case Summary, case No. CM-2006-140: http://www.oscn.net/applications/oscn/getcaseinformation.asp?submitted=true&number=OK-CM-2006-0140&db=Oklahoma&viewtype=oscn


*edit to add info links

[Ian David]

5. Playing Devil's Half-Hearted Advocate for a moment...

The government has no right to tell you that you can't listen to your iPod.

However, if every day, fifty people congregate in the park to all listen to their iPods, simultaneously, every day then it might create a public nuisance.

Similarly, if fifty people congregate every day in the park to solicit sex, simultaneously, every day, then it might create a public nuisance.

If it were fifty iPod enthusiasts, fifty hackey-sack enthusiasts, or fifty guys playing Ultimate Frizbee, the cops would have a legitimate reason to step-in if it was disruptive to the public. In this case, it was a bunch of gay-sex enthusiasts.

In all these instances, the "crime" is LOITERING.

Problem: The cops charged Latham with lewdness-- they should have charged him with LOITERING.

This makes it a Constitutional issue, and one which I hope Lonnie Dubya Latham wins.

I am SO GLAD that they're making this hypocrite the test case which will protect the rights of all of those he himself has always bashed.

[skypilot]

6. I suspect...

...that the prosecutors' homophobia got the better of them. If they'd been thinking straight (no pun intended) they would probably only be charging him with loitering (actually, would a charge of loitering even rise to the level of involving a prosecutor?) but since it was a man propositioning another man they all lost their heads and declared that the government has an interest in intervening in situations like this. Sounds like someone just needs to get a grip.

[Lenore]

7. Or, maybe they realized Latham was...

A hypocritical minister and just an 'arrest' alone would out him for what he is.

[skypilot]

8. If they wanted to make his humiliation public...

...by arresting him rather than simply ticketing him for loitering, I doubt they were motivated by a need to expose hypocrisy. This was more than likely simple homophobia at work. And even if they did want to give a hypocritical bully-pulpitter his lumps I think that from a legal standpoint they went overboard. I mean, you are right; if they'd simply given him a citation, or something, we might not have heard about any of this. Like I said earlier, I'm glad he's been exposed but...