Cape Girardeau City Council removes flag desecration from ordinances

More than 20 years after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that it is unconstitutional to outlaw flag burning, the Cape Girardeau City Council has taken the first steps to follow suit.

The council unanimously gave first-round approval Monday to an ordinance that would repeal a city law that prohibits flag desecration. The council did so without comment, based apparently on a memo from city staff that pointed to the 1989 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that declared flag desecration as a form of expression protected by the First Amendment.

The memo was drafted by Cape Girardeau police chief Carl Kinnison and city attorney Eric Cunningham. The council will have its final council vote Feb. 21.

Kinnison said after the meeting the change was brought about because of the October 2009 arrest of Frank L. Snider III for flag desecration.

Snider has since filed a federal lawsuit against the city of Cape Girardeau and the police officer who arrested him, Matthew Peters, individually and in his capacity as a police officer. Snider has allied himself with the American Civil Liberties Union.

In the lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court, he asks for a declaratory judgment, injunctive relief and nominal and punitive damages.

Mayor Harry Rediger said after the meeting that he was unaware of the lawsuit until he found out that the item was on the agenda.

"It was the constitutionality of the issue," Rediger said. "It was an older ordinance."

Rediger would not comment on the lawsuit, saying he knew little about it.

According to the lawsuit and published media reports, Snider was charged Oct. 20, 2009. Peters responded to a report of a disturbance between neighbors in the 900 block of South Benton Street. When Peters arrived, he saw a 4-foot-by-6-foot flag lying in the street and Snider told Peters he was trying to burn it.

Snider was arrested by police, and Cape Girardeau County Prosecuting Attorney Morley Swingle charged him with flag desecration. The charge was dropped hours later after Swingle was made aware of the Supreme Court ruling.

Missouri lawmakers have also never repealed the statute at the state level.

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