Editor's Note: The Sentinel continues to host a fundraiser for the legal defense of Michael Cassidy amid his additional legal proceedings.
An Iowa judge denied a motion to dismiss hate crime charges filed against Michael Cassidy, the conservative Christian veteran who tore down a Satanic altar erected in the Iowa Capitol, meaning he still faces as many as five years in prison, his legal team told The Sentinel.
Cassidy pushed over and decapitated the statue installed by the Satanic Temple of Iowa last year, as first reported by The Sentinel, before he surrendered himself to security officers. Attorneys for Cassidy recently filed a motion to nix the hate crime charges filed against him by Polk County Democratic Attorney Kimberly Graham, yet the judge informed his legal defense team on Tuesday that the charges would still be presented before a jury.
Davis Younts, an attorney who represents Cassidy, said in remarks to The Sentinel that the legal team is “deeply disappointed” with the ruling against their motion, which contended that the Satanic Temple of Iowa is neither a person nor a legitimate religion under Iowa law.
“Despite the inability of the prosecution to find a single instance in Iowa, or another state with a similar hate crime statute, where the law had been applied to an organization, the judge denied our motion to dismiss,” commented Younts, a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel. “We believe that the state is uniquely targeting our client with a hate crime because of his religious faith.”
Cassidy was at first charged with fourth-degree criminal mischief, which Graham later enhanced to third-degree criminal mischief “in violation of individual rights.” The prosecutor has received over $300,000 of in-kind campaign support from the Justice and Public Safety PAC, an entity funded by George Soros, making her one of several elected officials backed by the progressive billionaire who has faced criticism for pursuing politicized cases against conservatives while downplaying the importance of discouraging other criminal activity.
“Our client was motivated by a desire to protect the people of Iowa from having their sincerely held religious beliefs mocked by an organization that specifically chooses a symbol of hatred,” Younts continued. “The promotion of a symbol of lies and death is a direct attack on the ideals that our nation was founded on and that are necessary for a free society.”
The Satanic Temple is indeed making national headlines as they file lawsuits against school districts which refuse to allow chapters of their After School Satan Clubs.
