Date: Tue, 1 Nov 1994 22:54:17 -0600 (CST) From: Kevyn Jacobs Subject: NEWS-TELEGRAPH: PHELPS FOUND GUILTY OF CONTEMPT FROM THE LESBIAN & GAY NEWS-TELEGRAPH OCTOBER 28 - NOVEMBER 10, 1994 REPRINTED WITH PERMISSION ===================================== PHELPS FOUND GUILTY OF CONTEMPT TOPEKA - The Reverend Fred Phelps Sr. - the notorious Gay-bashing preacher who pickets AIDS-related funerals - and his daughter, Margie Phelps, were found guilty of contempt by Shawnee County District Judge Michael Barbara October 17. Fred Phelps Sr. was fined $1000 and ordered to pay half the costs of the five-day contempt hearing. His daughter, Margie Phelps, was fined $500, ordered to pay half the costs of the contempt hearing and ordered to withdraw as the attorney of record in a civil lawsuit between Phelps' Westboro Baptist Church and St.David's Episcopal Church. The contempt charges against the elder Phelps were a result of two telefax messages he allegedly sent to officials, news organizations and others. In one, he compared Judge Barbara to a snake, and in the other, he had the names of Barbara and Kansas Attorney General Robert Stephan on headstones. The complaint against Margie Phelps arose from her presentation in court of a transcript of one of Reverend Phelps' sermons which referred to Barbara. According to Barbara, the transcript "contains baseless, scurrilous and offensive personal charges against the court and the judge in particular. [It] impugns the integrity of the judge amounting to disrespect for the judicial dignity of the court and the judicial system in general." Barbara was appointed to the case between Westboro and St.David's after several other judges in Shawnee County excused themselves. The Phelps' have repeatedly attempted to get Barbara to excuse himself. Barbara said he would have been justified in sentencing Phelps Sr. to jail, but felt, "The role of martyrdom in this case will provide [Fred Phelps Sr.] another forum to espouse his disdain for the judicial system and this court."