3 Christians Receive $300,000 Over Wrongful Arrest in 2020 Anti-Mask Protest

A man wearing a protective face mask walks past a sign requiring face masks posted on a storefront in Los Angeles, Calif., on March 2, 2022. Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images

The wheels of justice often turn slowly but they do turn.

That was the experience of three Idahoans, who after years of legal battles were just paid a $300,000 settlement from their city over a violation of their constitutional right to protest during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In September 2020, nearly 200 Christians assembled outside of city hall in Moscow, Idaho, to protest a municipal mask and social distancing mandate.

Peaceful, maskless protesters stood shoulder to shoulder in an otherwise empty parking lot singing hymns, causing concern among local officials about the risk that those who chose to gather posed to public health.

Jailed for Obstruction

In a move that drew national attention at the time, the city police approached three of the protestors and asked to see their identification—a request the three initially refused.

Gabriel Rench, along with Sean and Rachel Bohnet, were then arrested and cited for violating Public Health Emergency Order No. 20-03, a measure mandating masks and social distancing.

And because they would not relent and show the officers their identification, the Bohnets were also cited for resisting or obstructing an officer.

The three spent several hours in jail.

Determined to Prosecute

Later, based on the information contained in the probable cause affidavits presented to him, a local magistrate decided that there was probable cause to support the arrests and citations of the peaceful but uncooperative protesters.

City Attorney Elizabeth Warner then determined to proceed with the prosecution of the three alleged offenders.

Mat Staver, founder and chairman of Liberty Counsel. Courtesy of Liberty Counsel

Civil rights attorney and founder of Liberty Counsel Mat Staver said of the case, “Arresting peaceful Christian worshippers exercising their constitutionally-protected rights is a serious threat to freedom.

“Public health orders are not a means to circumvent the First Amendment. There is no pandemic pause button on the Constitution.

“Thankfully, our Constitution protects our religious freedoms from government overreach.”

Shaky Case from Start

The prosecution’s case was damaged from the start by a series of missteps and miscues on the part of the city administration.

On March 20, 2020, the Moscow city council approved the “Emergency Powers Ordinance,” which granted the mayor the authority to enact emergency public health orders to combat spread of the COVID-19 virus.

The original emergency ordinance was to serve as the legal foundation for any subsequent public health orders enacted by the mayor.

As Morrison England, senior judge of the U.S. District Court of Idaho pointed out in a ruling handed down on Feb. 1, the original Emergency Powers Ordinance contained some important exemptions.

The ordinance reads in pertinent part, “Unless otherwise specifically prohibited by a Public Health Emergency Order duly enacted by the Mayor, the following activities shall be exempt from the scope of such order: 1. Any and all expressive and associative activity that is protected by the United States and Idaho Constitutions, including speech, press, assembly, and/or religious activity.”

As the pandemic raged on into the summer of 2020, on July 1, the mayor enacted the aforementioned Order No. 20-03, which required “every person in the city of Moscow” to wear a mask when in any indoor or outdoor public setting where the six-foot social distancing mandate was not able to be maintained.

A violation of the order was deemed a misdemeanor.

The three Christians were arrested, cited, and charged with a violation of the mayor’s order.

A Costly Oversight

In its decision, the District Court described what happened next.

“Somehow, every single city official involved overlooked the exclusionary language included in the (foundational) Ordinance requiring that the mayor make explicit that the Order was intended to apply to all constitutionally-protected expressive and associative activity as well.”

The court’s analysis of the case found that under a plain reading of the order in conjunction with the ordinance underlying it, all expressive and associative activity was excluded from the mask and distance order because such conduct was not explicitly addressed in the order itself.

In other words, those taking part in expressive or associative conduct were not required to mask or distance.

Never Should Have Been Arrested

Judge England declared that the three Christians “should never have been arrested.”

As the three protesters violated neither the order nor any other law, the court said it was unclear what justification the police had to require the Christians to identify themselves or charge them with obstruction.

Regarding the magistrate’s probable cause finding, the court said it was based on “incomplete information.” The magistrate was not provided the clear language of the ordinance and only the order was cited as a basis for the protesters’ arrests.

“The prosecutors’ charging decisions were likewise flawed,” the court held.

The court found that the arresting police officers were not properly informed by city officials “when they were explicitly briefed by the experts on the applicable laws” and were told that the order should be enforced at the hymn sing.

Settlement Conference Ordered

In ordering the parties to participate in a settlement conference that ultimately garnered $300,000 dollars for the three Christians, Judge England described the whole scenario as “one of the most novel set of circumstances the Court has ever encountered.”

He wrote that given the fact that the Christians were wrongfully arrested, the city “indisputably erred in interpreting its own Code, (and) the city consequently misadvised its officers as to the Code’s application … this case should not need to see the inside of a courtroom.”

Earlier, the City of Moscow dropped its criminal charges against the three protesters but the Christians’ civil action continued.

During the course of the case, the city repealed the ordinance section setting forth the applicable exclusions and terminated the mayor’s mask mandate and social distancing order.

According to Mr. Rench, about half of the $300,000 dollars will be spent on legal fees and the other half will be donated to persecuted Christians.