Michael Cassidy was facing five years in jail for beheading a Satanic statue
Michael Cassidy, the navy veteran who was charged with a hate crime for decapitating a Satanic statue in the Iowa capitol, has had all charges dropped against him.
Cassidy announced the good news in post on Twitter late on Friday night.
“Not today, Satan,” he tweeted.
“Pleased to announce the Iowa DA just dropped their absurd felony hate crime charge and instead offered a deferred judgement misdemeanor (a fine, no jail time, nothing permanent on my record), which I accepted. Many thanks to my family, my lawyers, my community, and the many Christians who have supported us morally and financially over the past several months. When Christians stick together, we can, and we will, win.”
The navy veteran added he would “have more to say in the weeks ahead,” and urged viewers to use their Memorial Day Weekend to “remember and honor those who gave their lives in service of our nation.”
Cassidy pushed over and decapitated a statue installed in the Iowa capitol by the Satanic Temple of Iowa. He surrendered himself to officers shortly after.
He told The Republic Sentinel that he did it to “awaken Christians to the anti-Christian acts promoted by the government.”
“The world may tell Christians to submissively accept the legitimization of Satan, but none of the founders would have considered government sanction of Satanic altars inside Capitol buildings as protected by the First Amendment,” Cassidy told The Sentinel.
“Anti-Christian values have steadily been mainstreamed more and more in recent decades, and Christians have largely acted like the proverbial frog in the boiling pot of water.”
Polk County DA Kimberley Graham then filed hate crime charges against him that could have seen him spend five years in jail if convicted. Graham has indirectly received around $300,000 in backing from a George Soros-funded entity.
Twitter users reacted almost unanimously with joy to Cassidy’s latest news.
“Thank you for having the courage to do the right thing,” tweeted one user.
