Church’s P.A. System Too Noisy, Judge Rules : Religion: One of two ministers of tiny Fallbrook congregation is found guilty of disturbing the peace with amplified services.

One Fallbrook minister was found guilty Tuesday but another was acquitted of disturbing the peace by using an amplifier during their church service.

Municipal Judge Harley Earwicker said the extent to which the neighborhood was disrupted constituted disturbance of the peace and was not protected under the First Amendment.

Earwicker ruled that the clapping, shouting, singing and stomping at Apostolic Church of the Faith of Jesus Christ was “an integral part of the practice of the religion of this group and cannot be inhibited upon by the state.”

However, the amplification “was not an essential part,” he ruled, and thus is not protected by the freedom of speech and religion clauses of the U. S. Constitution.

“If it had been, this case probably would have ended differently,” Earwicker said.

In October, Pastors Daniel Perez and Reynaldo Flores Pizano were handcuffed and removed during Sunday services at their Kalmia Street church by sheriff’s deputies responding to a noise complaint. Pizano was acquitted while Perez was convicted and given a $50 suspended fine. Perez faced a maximum fine of $250.

Deputy Dist. Atty. David Berry showed that, although Perez did not participate in the noise making, he was culpable because, as pastor, he was responsible for and able to control his congregation. Also, Perez had been informed of previous complaints and did not act to quiet the services.

The defense argued that for Perez to interfere would be to “contravene his own sincerely held religious belief.”

Isiais Varelas, the sole defense witness, testified through an interpreter that, according to the Apostolic faith, “if the Holy Spirit comes to a man, it is not right for someone to intervene.”

In closing arguments, defense counsel Betty Wheeler, legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of San Diego and Imperial Counties, argued that, because “all the noise flowed directly from the conduct of the worship service” and there was no danger of imminent violence, the noise was protected under the First Amendment.

Wheeler said that “it’s impossible to imagine a more chilling effect” on religious expression than that produced by a minister being handcuffed and taken away in his own church.

After the verdict, she said that “virtually every church in the country uses a public address system” and that churches should not be discouraged from using such equipment in their worship.

“Obviously, the churches believe that a P.A. system enhances their ability to worship,” said Wheeler, adding that she plans to give an appeal “serious consideration.”

The two pastors declined to comment.

A prosecution witness had testified that the noise shook picture frames on apartment walls as far as 100 yards from the church, and described the noise as “unnerving,” with “a pitch that reminds me of a riot.”

Varelas provided testimony on the biblical basis of the church’s use of clapping, loud singing, musical instruments, praying out loud and speaking in tongues. But under cross-examination, Varelas said that a microphone was not necessary for worship, especially in a small building such as the 60-member Fallbrook church.