In a Halloween parade, a man named Ernest Perce dressed up as a “Muhammad Zombie” and marched with the Parading Atheists of Central Pennsylvania (PACP). This apparently angered a Muslim spectator to the point of disrupting the parade and assaulting Perce. The commonwealth brought charges against the assailant.

Interestingly, the judge who presided over the trial is a Muslim named Mark Martin; Martin ruled in favor of the defendant and apparently used the rationale that Perce should consider himself lucky because if he had done what he did in a Muslim country, he would have been put to death.

While the trial was not allowed to be videotaped, Perce insists that Martin gave him permission to make an audio recording of it. Perce did so and has released it via YouTube (below). Martin is now threatening to jail Perce for doing what Perce alleges he was given permission by that judge to do.

Some key moments in the video are:

5:00 Mark: Defense attorney asks Perce about dressing up as a Zombie during a Halloween parade and concedes the point but then asks Perce to give a reason for why he decided to take the next step and add a sign that depicted him as Muhammad (this is irrelevant under the U.S. Constitution and therefore should be irrelevant in a court of law).

8:00 Mark: Defense attorney asks Perce to read the a quote from a YouTube post made by Perce in which the latter made reference to seeing Muhammad when looking into a toilet. According to Perce’s account, Judge Martin (Muslim) got visibly angry at this point in the proceedings.

12:40 Mark: Defendant Talaaq takes the stand and the Muslim judge asks him to raise his right hand without requesting that he place it on a Bible.

15:25 Mark: Talaaq says he was compelled to assault Perce to defend his honor (apparently) in front of his son and his wife. Yes, he apparently justified the assault as being righteous. Got that?

16:15 Mark: Talaaq says he was so nervous that he couldn’t remember how to dial 9-1-1. Instead, he dialed 9-4-4.

17:45 Mark: Talaaq denies making physical contact with Perce despite the police report showing he admitted to doing so. That should be perjury AND assault. Then again, the Muslim judge didn’t require him to swear on a Bible so maybe he gets a pass on the perjury.

20:00 Mark: Amazingly, Talaaq explains that he believed what Perce was doing was against the law. Yeah, he said that.

Then, pay particularly close attention beginning at the 27:45 Mark. Hint: if you thought liberal judges were activist and driven by an agenda when making rulings, you ain’t seen nothing until you watch Judge Mark Martin, a Muslim who calls the assault victim names for his lack of understanding when it comes to the Qur’an. Here is an excerpt of what he said:

“Our forefathers intended that we use the first amendment so that we could speak what’s on our mind, not piss off other cultures….. Islam is not just a religion, it’s their culture, their culture, the very essence, their very being. They pray five times a day, towards Mecca. To be a good Muslim before you die, you have to make a pilgrimage to Mecca unless you are otherwise told you cannot because you are too ill, too elderly, whatever, you must make the attempt. Their greetings salum alaikum waliakum as-salm )as answered by voice), uh may god be with you. It is very common, their language, when they are speaking to each other, it is very common for them to say, uh allah willing, this will happen. It’s they are so immersed in it. And what you’ve done is you’ve completey trashed their essence, their being. They find it very, very, very offensive. I am a Muslim. I find it very offensive ….. You are way outside your bounds of first amendment rights.”

You’ve got to see it all. Remember, this happened in a United States courtroom.

Here is the audio of the proceeding, via Atlas Shrugs: