Opinion ID: 450481
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Constitutionality of the Statute as Applied

Text: 7 This Court has recently decided that this Georgia statute was unconstitutional as applied in the case of Monroe v. State Court of Fulton County, 739 F.2d 568 (11th Cir.1984). In Monroe, the facts were almost identical with those here present, with the exception that in Monroe there was evidence of an incipient threat of violence. In oral arguments of this case, the State undertook to distinguish the cases by claiming that there were only two or three people present during the evening of the flag burning other than the persons who were charged and convicted. This is refuted by the magistrate's findings, which were adopted by the trial court. In his findings, the magistrate stated: The police officers testified the flag burning appeared deliberate because petitioners were 'calling to the neighborhood to come on and join in burning the flags.'  The magistrate then found that in the instant case, petitioners burned the flag at a public demonstration. 8 Finding no distinction between this case and Monroe, we must reverse the trial court's denial of the writ on the ground that the Georgia statute is unconstitutional as applied to these appellants. 9