NOTE: This case was later appealed and won in the Common Pleas Court.
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FIELD PREACHER FOUND GUILTY FOR REFUSING
TO STOP PREACHING THE GOSPEL  7/22/03

Field preacher Michael Marcavage of the Philadelphia-based REPENT AMERICA was found guilty this past Friday of OBSTRUCTING HIGHWAYS AND OTHER PUBLIC PASSAGEWAYS and sentenced to 40 hours of community service and fined $100 plus court costs totaling $242 by Judge Wendy Pew.

On May 29, Marcavage was preaching the Gospel along with several other Christians while standing on the public sidewalk in front of the Condom Kingdom, a store on South Street in Philadelphia. He was approached by Sergeant Warren Edwards and told that he was not permitted to be there. Marcavage provided the officer with a copy of a previous court case in which he was found not guilty. Officer Edwards agreed to review the case and return within the half hour.

When Edwards returned Marcavage was speaking with another officer. Edwards interrupted and told Marcavage that he cannot stand on the sidewalk and continue to preach because of the people gathering to hear. Marcavage respectfully refused to leave and was then subsequently arrested and charged under the Pennsylvania Crimes Code Sub Section 5507 OBSTRUCTING HIGHWAYS AND OTHER PUBLIC PASSAGEWAYS.

Remarkably, the Pennsylvania law clearly states under the same Sub Section, “No person shall be deemed guilty of an offense under this subsection solely because of a gathering of persons to hear him speak or otherwise communicate, or solely because of being a member of such a gathering.”

This is the second time that Marcavage has been arrested on South Street for preaching. In October of 2002 on Halloween night, Marcavage was violently arrested and jailed for eleven hours after being charged with Disorderly Conduct for refusing to stop preaching using amplification. Marcavage was acquitted in the Common Pleas Court of Philadelphia on February 25, 2003 of this charge. Judge Joyce S. Kean ended the hearing by stating, “That’s it. No more argument. The Court agrees. Judgment granted.”

“Like the previous case this one will be appealed in victory,” Marcavage said. “We must be free to preach the word of God without police interference and harassment, especially when people are gathering to hear.” Romans 10:14-15 declares, “How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?”