Why is this judge not using his islamic name, Achmed, Muhammed, Mohammed....whatever? I’ve never heard of an islamic named Mark Martin.
Muslims should be insulted. I say they should confront him about this mistake and take him to the woodshed because he’s ashamed to be muslim. Just sayin...:)
http://volokh.com/2012/02/25/zombie-mohammed-judge-responds/
This story certainly has legs. As you might imagine, the public is only getting the version of the story put out by the victim (the atheist). Many, many gross misrepresentations. Among them: Im a Muslim, and thats why I dismissed the harassment charge (Fact: if anyone cares, Im actually Lutheran, and have been for at least 41 years).
I also supposedly called him and threatened to throw him in jail if he released the tapes he had made in the courtroom without my knowledge/permission (Fact: HE called ME and told me that he was ready to go public with the tapes and was wondering what the consequences would be; I advised him again to not disseminate the recording, and that I would consider contempt charges; he then replied that he was willing to go to jail for (his) 1st amendment rights- I never even uttered the word jail in that conversation).
He said that I kept a copy of the Quran on the bench (fact: I keep a Bible on the bench, but out of respect to people with faiths other than Christianity, I DO have a Quran on the bookcase BESIDE my bench, and am trying to acquire a Torah, Book of Mormon, Book of Confucius and any other artifacts which those with a faith might respect).
He claims that Im biased towards Islam, apparently because he thinks Im Muslim. In fact, those of you who know me, know that Im an Army reservist with 27 years of service towards our country (and still serving). Ive done one tour in Afghanistan, and two tours in Iraq, and am scheduled to return to Afghanistan for a year this summer. During my first tour in Iraq, I was ambushed once, attacked by a mob once, sniped at once, and rocketed, bombed, and mortared so many times that I honestly dont know how many time Ive been attacked. Presumably by Muslim insurgents. My point: if anyone SHOULD be biased towards Muslims, one would think it would be me. Im not, however, because I personally know or have met many good, decent people who follow Islam, and I shouldnt characterize the actions of those who tried to kill me as characterizations of all Muslims.
When I asked him why he dressed up as Muhammad zombie, he told me that it was because he was reflecting the Muslim belief that Muhammad rose from the dead, walked as a zombie, and then went to heaven. That was one of the reasons I tried to spend 6 whole minutes trying to explain and de-mystify Islam through my own knowledge, and in an attempt to prevent an incident like this recurring in my community. Unfortunately, the message was obviously not received in the vein that I had intended. And, in the interest of full disclosure, I did use the word doofus, but didnt call him that directly; I said something akin to if youre going to mock another religion or culture, you should check your facts, first- otherwise, youll look like a doofus.;
In short, I based my decision on the fact that the Commonwealth failed to prove to me beyond a reasonable doubt that the charge was just; I didnt doubt that an incident occurred, but I was basically presented only with the victims version, the defendants version, and a very intact Styrofoam sign that the victim was wearing and claimed that the defendant had used to choke him. There so many inconsistencies, that there was no way that I was going to find the defendant guilty.
A lesson learned here: theres a very good reason for Rule 112 of Rules of Criminal Procedure- if someone makes an unauthorized recording in a Court not of Record, theres no way to control how it might be manipulated later, and then passed off as the truth. Weve received dozens upon dozens of phone calls, faxes, and e-mails. There are literally hundreds of not-so-nice posts all over the internet on at least 4 sites that have carried this story, mainly because Ive been painted as a Muslim judge who didnt recuse himself, and whos trying to introduce Sharia law into Mechanicsburg.