The father sat in the courtroom weeping, and his daughters hugged him and did their best to console him.
Albert Snyder not only lost his son, Marine Lance Cpl. Matthew Snyder, in Iraq in 2006, but then had to relive the horror of having Matthew?s funeral picketed by the in-your-face, fire-and-brimstone Westboro Baptist Church.
In closing arguments Tuesday, Snyder?s attorney said the fringe group intended to terrorize him and his grieving family.
“You live with that memory forever,” said the attorney, Sean Summers. “The defendants stole the dignity and respect right out of Matt?s funeral for their own disgusting, insane reasons, whatever they may be.”
The lawsuit is the first against Westboro, the Topeka, Kan., church whose members say they protest at troops? funerals because they believe the world is proud of its sins, chiefly homosexuality, and in danger of incurring God?s wrath.
One juror at the trial, in U.S. District Court in Baltimore, removed his glasses to wipe tears from his eyes as Summers pressed on.
“Any reasonable person knows that is shocking and offensive, and they know that, too,” Summers said of the four defendants ? the church, its founder, Fred Phelps, and two of his daughters.
They stood 1,000 feet from St. John Catholic Church in Westminster at the funeral, and Jonathan Katz, Westboro?s attorney, argued that members were simply carrying out what they believed was God?s will.
They held signs reading, “God hates fags” and “Thank God for dead soldiers.”
Katz told jurors it is their duty to swallow their emotions and protect the First Amendment, which he argued gave the church members the right to express their religious beliefs, no matter how outlandish.
“Is the First Amendment needed to protect popular speech, popular religion, speech that no one gets grossed-out at?” Katz said. “It protects religions that aren?t mainstream. … Freedom is not free.”
But Summers said Snyder knew that all too well because his son died fighting for America?s freedom.
Of Westboro members, Summers said: “They intend their signs to be hard-hitting. Well, they hit Mr. Snyder, no doubt about it. They did; they hit him hard.”
Jury deliberations began Tuesday.
