Pastor Convicted of Letting Homeless Camp at Church

Putting aside their avowed sympathy and admiration for a Baptist preacher who transformed his church into a sanctuary for the homeless, a Municipal Court jury found the Rev. Wiley Drake guilty Monday of violating city zoning codes by allowing vagrants to camp in a makeshift shelter.

After two days of deliberations, the jury voted to convict Drake and his First Southern Baptist Church of Buena Park on four of five misdemeanor counts, rejecting the defense’s argument that Drake’s higher calling to help the homeless took precedence over the city’s zoning rules.

As the jury’s decision was read, Drake nervously wrung his hands, finally breaking down in tears. His tears were shed not for himself but for “the men, women, boys and girls who will be kicked out into the street” because of the guilty verdicts, he said later outside the courtroom.

“It’s a sad day when a nation can say it’s a crime to help people,” Drake said. “I’m disappointed that we lost, but we’ll just train harder and work harder in the next round,” referring to a planned appeal.

Several jurors said they agonized over the decision but had no choice, given the evidence and the instructions by Judge Gregg L. Prickett.

“I would have given anything to be able to put a little heart in it, but that wasn’t our job,” said Rebecca Ostrander, a 47-year-old legal secretary who was the forewoman of the jury. “This is one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do in my life.”

Drake, an outspoken Texas native, also introduced a successful amendment earlier this summer at the Southern Baptist Convention calling for a boycott against the Walt Disney Co. to protest what the denomination called a “promotion of homosexuality.” The Baptists said they were upset with the annual “Gay Day” at Disney World in Florida and with the company’s policy of extending insurance benefits to companions of gay employees.

Drake was charged with five misdemeanor violations, but the case had wider implications because it touched on two national issues--how to provide for a growing number of homeless people at a time when the government is cutting back on social spending, and to what extent religious beliefs should be protected in a court of law.

Atty. Gen. Janet Reno’s office is looking into the case, and Drake said Monday that Vice President Al Gore called him during the two-week trial to express his support.

Robert Boston, assistant director for Americans United for Separation of Church and State, a Washington-based nonprofit group, said the guilty verdict did not surprise him because zoning is such a difficult issue.

“People know everyone has a right to worship as they see fit,” he said. “But a lot of people have trouble seeing the provision of social services as religious practice.”

In a separate civil case, Orange County Superior Court Judge Randell L. Wilkinson ordered the eviction earlier this month of 24 homeless men and women from a makeshift shelter on the church’s lot. That decision was partially based on a recent Supreme Court ruling striking down a federal law designed to expand and protect religious freedom.

Drake’s attorney, Jon Alexander, argued that the pastor was not directly responsible for allowing the homeless on church grounds because he did not invite them, and in fact, did everything he could to get them jobs so that they could leave.

Jurors said they wrestled with two key points: whether Drake acted as the pastor of the church or as an individual, and whether Drake was directly responsible for the people camping on church grounds.

On the first issue, jurors weighed whether to convict the church and not the pastor, but decided in the end that he was responsible for church activities.

On the second question, jurors agreed with defense attorney Jon Alexander that city officials should have cited the homeless people if they had broken the law by sleeping in their vehicles on church property, not the pastor.

Drake was convicted on four counts of allowing the homeless to sleep in an enclosed patio and on the church’s parking lot. He was acquitted of one count of keeping trailers on church property.

Half a dozen jurors who were interviewed agreed that Drake’s efforts to help the homeless were praiseworthy and some even approached the pastor after the the verdict was announced to shake his hand.

“We know he was doing good and it was hard to punish somebody who was doing good,” Michele Pryor, a 22-year-old store manager, said. “Pastor Drake is doing a wonderful job--I couldn’t do what he is doing--but he needs to follow the law like everybody else. He has the same rules as anybody else. He’s a man like everybody else.”

City officials insisted throughout the trial that the case was not about helping the homeless but about the pastor’s bold breach of the law, cloaked in a humanitarian argument. Gregory Palmer, assistant city prosecutor, said during closing arguments last week that the pastor could have chosen to help the homeless in a legal manner, but chose not to do so.

The prosecution told jurors that Drake endangered the church and neighbors by allowing criminals, drug addicts and others to camp on the property, which they said violated zoning laws. During a three-month period last year, police made 23 calls to the church in response to crimes such as assault, battery and drug use, said Gregory Palmer, assistant city prosecutor.

The jury’s decision is expected to result in the eviction of about 40 people from the church.

Sentencing is set for Aug. 22, and Palmer has said he would ask for five years’ probation and a court order forcing Drake to cease all illegal activities.