Court won’t get involved in Prophet Muhammad ad case
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court is declining to get involved in a dispute that began when a group tried to have Washington transit officials display an ad with a provocative cartoon of the Prophet Muhammad.
The justices said Monday they would not get involved in the case.
The Texas-based American Freedom Defense Initiative in 2015 submitted an ad that depicted a sword-wielding Prophet Muhammad saying: “You can’t draw me!”
Muslims generally believe any physical depiction of the Prophet Muhammad is blasphemous. The cartoon won a contest the group sponsored.
After the ad was submitted, the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority’s board of directors voted to temporarily suspend all issue-oriented advertisements on the region’s rail and bus system.
The American Freedom Defense Initiative sued.
Justices reject Oklahoma death row inmate’s last appeal
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday rejected the last appeal of a man who was sentenced to death in the killing of four people at an Oklahoma City trailer park 14 years ago.
The Oklahoman reports that Gilbert Ray Postelle and 20 other men will be eligible for an execution date once the state resumes executions.
Postelle was one of four men charged with conspiracy and first-degree murder in the killings at an Oklahoma City trailer park in 2005. Postelle was 22 when he was convicted in 2008, and he was the only one sentenced to death.
Prosecutors say the four believed one of the victims had severely injured Postelle’s father in a motorcycle accident, and they went to the trailer park seeking revenge.
