The 23 pastors charged with trespassing and obstructing government operations for a May 6 protest in the Missouri Senate Gallery pleaded not guilty Wednesday morning.
Cole County Circuit Judge Dan Green scheduled a 1:30 p.m. hearing on Dec. 10 on their motion to have the charges dismissed.
On Aug. 15, Prosecutor Mark Richardson filed identical Class B misdemeanor charges against all 23 pastors - including Jefferson City pastors William (W.T.) Edmonson, 62, and John Bennett, 74.
The charges said they "purposely obstructed and impaired and hindered the performance of a governmental function, namely, Senate actions on the floor of the Missouri State Senate ... by the use of force and chanting and singing loudly."
The trespassing charges said the 23 "knowingly remained unlawfully upon real property located at the Senate Gallery in the Missouri Capitol," even after Capitol Police gave a verbal "notice" of trespassing.
Ultimately, the state Senate stood "at ease" for nearly an hour, unable to debate bills because the protesters' chants and singing were too loud.
But, in their eight-page motion to dismiss the charges, attorneys Rod Chapel Jr. and Jay Barnes argued the protesters stayed in the gallery and there was no threat of force to the senators on the floor below and that the protesters didn't violate the statutes used to charge them.
The motion noted the obstruction charge requires "the use or threat of violence, force, or physical interference or obstacle" to the proceedings.
But, the lawyers argued, Richardson's charges only allege chanting and singing, which is "auditory interference (and) there is no allegation that anything other than noise disrupted any proceedings."
The trespass charge requires the prosecutor to prove the defendants "knowingly" entered and remained "unlawfully" in the building, and that they were given a "notice against trespass."
Chapel and Barnes noted the state's probable cause statement reported the protesters "were advised by Missouri Capitol Police officers that they would be arrested if they did not comply" with orders to leave the Senate Gallery.
Since the Senate Gallery is a public place that is "open to the public to allow anyone to watch their state government in action," the lawyers said Green should dismiss the charges because "the Probable Cause statement failed to specify any state statute or other law which would make the Defendants' continued presence in the Senate Gallery "unlawful.'"
The motion to dismiss also said the Missouri Constitution gives the Legislature - not the courts or prosecutor - the "original jurisdiction for disturbances of legislative proceedings," with a fine of no more than $300 and/or imprisonment in a county jail no greater than 10 days, for any non-lawmaker "guilty of disrespect to the house by any disorderly or contemptuous behavior in its presence during sessions."
But Richardson's charges could result in both higher fines and longer jail sentences than the Constitution specifies, the motion said.
"More importantly, there is no statute imposing criminal liability for non-violent, non-physical disturbances of the legislature," Chapel and Barnes wrote.