Metzger’s Sentence

In response to “Thinking Time for a Hater,” editorial, Jan. 8:

As lead defense counsel since 1983 in the prosecution of Tom Metzger and others for criminal charges arising from the cross-lighting ceremony in Lake View Terrace on Dec. 3, 1983, and while Tom Metzger and Brad Kelly are confined in the Los Angeles County Jail, I was appalled by your paper’s endorsement of his confinement and ignorance of the issues presented during the trial. The fact that is almost always deleted is that all conduct took place on private property owned by one of the men involved in the ceremony. Not one single witness testified that any violence occurred nor were any neighbors present or “terrorized” that night.

Tom Metzger, Brad Kelly, Erich Schmidt and Stanley Witek are being punished for their thoughts and avowed beliefs, nothing more nor less. Metzger’s “criminal conduct” that night consisted of driving to Los Angeles, meeting with the ceremony’s organizer regarding delivering a speech (which was never given) and standing some 40 feet away from the cross lighting. He was arrested while eating a sandwich and watching the ceremony.

The “sizzle” that seduced your paper and other media into believing that this was a terrorist act is misplaced; the “steak” is the fact that as far as I know, the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution continues to allow people to peaceably assemble and espouse any belief, no matter how unpopular it may be, irrespective of its “political correctness.”

The case is the first and only arrest of Metzger. Judge J.D. Smith imposed the maximum penalty allowed by law (six months) for unlawful assembly, a crime that was routinely committed by Vietnam era protesters and continues today as groups assemble to protest both sides of the highly charged abortion-choice issue.

The Times may condemn Tom Metzger and the others for their beliefs but I expected more from a prominent publication, which enjoys constitutionally protected freedom of speech every day.

KEVIN S. AVERY

Beverly Hills