NEBRASKA /A.P. NEWS
CHARGES DROPPED IN FUNERAL PROTEST
By John Axtell and Associated Press
Aug 23, 2010 - 12:42:40 PM

     3 years of legal battles over an anti-gay protest outside the funeral of Nebraska National Guard member killed in Iraq have ended with the protester essentially victorious.
             
        Shirley Phelps-Roper was to go on trial today in Sarpy County Court on charges of disturbing the peace and negligent child abuse for incidents during a 2007 protest in Bellevue, but Sarpy County Attorney Lee Polikov dropped all charges in return for Phelps-Roper dropping a civil rights suit against  against him and 2 other attorneys.

     Phelps-Roper was accused of letting her then-10-year-old son stand on an American flag, and of dragging a flag on the ground while wearing it as a skirt.

      She was also originally charged with violating Nebraska's flag desecration law, but challenged that law on constitutional grounds and won.
 
       She was unsuccessful in 2 attempts to have the other charges dismissed...arguing they weren't warranted because she was executing her right to free speech and was in compliance with a city-issued permit for the protest. 

       Phelps-Roper followed up those efforts with her August 9th lawsuit seeking damages from Polikov for restricting her First Amendment rights.