Nation IN BRIEF : LOUISIANA : Suit Seeks End to Church Sentencing
From Times Staff and Wire Reports
A judge who has sentenced at least 350 people to attend church was sued by the American Civil Liberties Union. The ACLU challenged the sentence handed to a man accused of drunk driving, saying the punishment violated the separation of church and state. Thomas P. Quirk, Lake Charles City Court judge, ordered Gregory Thompson to attend church once a week for a year on his no-contest plea in 1993. “I’m not going to stop until the courts tell me I’ve got to,” Quirk said.
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