Click To read full story from World Net Daily
By Bob Unruh
© 2010 WorldNetDaily
A federal judge has ruled the seizure of thousands of Gospel tracts from a Texas ministry by U.S. Secret Service agents not only was illegal, it violated Fourth Amendment protections against an overbearing and intrusive government.
The decision yesterday by Judge Jorge Solis of the Northern District of Texas came in the long-running dispute over a tract deliberately made to look like a $1 million bill.
The Million Dollar Bill tract was created by evangelist Ray Comfort, who also is author of "Nothing Created Everything: The Scientific Impossibility of Atheistic Evolution," and "You Can Lead An Atheist to Evidence, but You Can't Make Him Think."
"The Million Dollar Bill, taken as a whole, poses no reasonable risk of deceiving an honest, sensible, and unsuspecting person," the judge wrote. "First and foremost is the fact that the Million Dollar Bill purports to be worth a million dollars. There is no genuine currency in this amount.
"More importantly, the amount the bill purports to be worth would lead any unsuspecting, honest, and reasonable person to become suspicious of the [bill's] genuineness. Though many people would readily accept a one-hundred dollar bill without thinking there was a need to even give the bill a cursory examination, a reasonable and honest person would suspect that a bill purporting to be worth a million dollars is not genuine."
Further, the judge ruled that the agents who confiscated 83 packets of the Gospel tracts from the Denton, Texas, offices of the Great News Network violated the U.S. Constitution.
Solis noted that the agents went to the office and confronted workers, demanding the tracts. The workers told the agents ministry leader Darrel Rundus was the only person who could give them permission to take the privately owned property. Rundus had said he would cooperate if the agents got a warrant or a court order, which they had chosen not to do.
According to the court's opinion, the agents then threatened arrest if the workers did not cooperate.
"Agent [Mickey] Kennedy was not subtle in the manner by which he implied that he was taking the Million Dollar Bills with him no matter what – even if it meant arresting Mr. [Timothy] Crawford in the process. The facts and circumstances surrounding Agent Kennedy's statements to Mr. Crawford on June 2, 2006, leave no doubt that Mr. Crawford believed he would be arrested if he did not retrieve the Million Dollar Bills from the closed closet in which they were hidden out of the agents' sight," the judge ruled.
"Agent Kennedy's coercive tactics not only resulted in an unconstitutional search and seizure, it also resulted in bringing disrepute to the noble profession of law enforcement," Solis wrote.
Further, the judge concluded that the agents involved in the seizure later "conspired together to cover up the actual events that took place at GNN's office.
"Agents Kennedy and [Erin] Erdman persisted in covering up these events by being untruthful when they took the witness stand during the bench trial for this case," the judge concluded.
WND contacted Secret Service offices in Dallas and in Washington, but no one would comment on the case.
Rundus told WND he was pleased with the outcome, and his attorney, Steve Crampton, said he was pleased with the ruling, given the stonewalling and coverup that appeared to have taken place throughout the government's case.
"Hopefully, they will go back and rethink their big-picture strategy," Rundus said.
The tracts at issue invite a recipient to answer the "million dollar question: Will you go to Heaven?"
The case was brought on behalf of the Great News Network, which was distributing the tracts. Crampton argued the case on behalf of the Florida-based non-profit legal advocacy group Liberty Counsel.
The tracts clearly state they are not legal tender and contain the Gospel message.
They are published by the Living Waters ministry of evangelist and author Ray Comfort, who says he has distributed millions over the years.
Rundus sued the U.S. Department of Homeland Security for violations of the Constitution's First Amendment right to free speech and the Fourth Amendment guarantee against unlawful search and seizure. The judge wrote that because he decided the tracts are not illegal, he didn't have to reach a conclusion whether the statutory provisions the government alleged were being violated were constitutional.
Rundus has reported the tracts are extremely effective. He uses them to share his faith with others. While the front of the tract has markings similar to paper currency, it states "This bill is not legal tender," "Thou Shalt Not Steal" and "Department of Eternal Affairs."
The judge noted those are among the indicators, along with the biblical quotations, that would tip off a "reasonable" person, along with the fact there is no such bill.
