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Rutherford Defends 'John 3:16' Sign Holder

An incident happened in July 2014 at Willie Mays Plaza in front of the Giants ballpark, when Gino Emmerich displayed the religious sign at a Giants-Dodgers game.

Rutherford Institute founder John Whitehead picks up the story from there, explaining that Emmerich displayed his sign, along with other sports-themed signs, during an ESPN broadcast.

[Whitehead, John (Rutherford Institute)] "The producer for ESPN came over and warned him to get away. He didn't want that on television," Whitehead says of the situation.

But Gino did it again, along with the others, and police arrived and whisked him away.

Rutherford Institute filed suit but a settlement has been reached.

Whitehead calls the legal case a "win case" for Rutherford, and for Emmerich and his First Amendment rights.

"Because in 2007 the California Supreme Court ruled that people had a right to be outside a private shopping center and hand out flyers to people going in," he explains. "So it looks like we have a good case and I think that probably what we're going to see here is that they're going to set some rules and allow people like Gino to be out there and not dragged away by the police."

Original article available here.

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