Plaintiffs and Lawyers Discuss Details of Settlement With Md State Police In First Amendment Case

Along Reisterstown Road in front of Maryland State Police headquarters on Monday morning, lawyers and plaintiffs talked about details related to a $385,000 settlement between nine plaintiffs and State Police in a federal lawsuit stemming from the arrest, detention and strip searches of 18 Defend Life demonstrators along Route 24 in Bel Air in 2008.

"Our group, Defend Life, and other groups, now have a clear mandate to do what we were doing back on August 1st and August 2nd 2008, showing graphic images," said Baltimore-based Defend Life founder and director Jack Ames. "That's what this ruling is all about. So there is a real precedent value to this ruling."

Members of Defend Life were arrested by the Maryland State Police on Aug. 1, 2008, along Route 24 in Bel Air. The group was on its Face the Truth Tour in which it used graphic roadside posters depicting aborted babies.

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