Nebraska Drops Case Against Westboro Member

Nebraska Drops Case Against Westboro Member

August 24, 2010
Associated Press

PAPILLION, Neb. -- Family members of a fallen U.S. servicemember expressed disappointment Monday after prosecutors and protesters from Kansas-based Westboro Baptist Church reached a deal that will keep both sides out of court over actions stemming from a church member's 2007 protest of the serviceman's funeral.

The 11th-hour deal was signed Monday, the same day Shirley Phelps-Roper's trial was to begin on charges of disturbing the peace and negligent child abuse. Those charges will be dismissed in exchange for Phelps-Roper, 52, dropping a federal lawsuit against Nebraska authorities accusing them of malicious prosecution.


As part of the deal pending a judge's expected Aug. 31 approval, Phelps-Roper also agreed to remove Sarpy County Attorney Lee Polikov from a separate lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the state's funeral protest law. Defendants in that ongoing federal suit include Republican Gov. Dave Heineman and state Attorney General Jon Bruning.

But family members and friends of the fallen Bellevue servicemember say the deal leaves them out in the cold.

"I came here today to see some justice done. This isn't right," said Randy Chaney, 44, the brother of Petty Officer 1st Class Jeffrey Chaney, who was 35 when he was killed in 2007 by a roadside bomb in Iraq.
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Nebraska Drops Case Against Westboro Member