Marquitta R. Ford ready for court. Faces phony charges for protesting against LGBT agenda in front of Georgia State Capitol.
Hearing likely to take place in June or July
Outrageous: Turned down by every “pro-family” legal group we contacted – so we’ve hired a lawyer for her!
Please help us cover her legal expenses!
May 18 2018
Marquitta R. Ford (left) with her attorney Larry Kohn outside of the courthouse at her arraignment hearing in April.
As we reported back in February, Marquitta R. Ford, a courageous Georgia MassResistance activist, was arrested and jailed – and given humiliating treatment by the authorities – after legally protesting against the LGBT agenda in front of the Georgia State Capitol. She had been demonstrating on the same spot – a public sidewalk – for nearly three months and had previously been assured by police that it was legal to be there.
She was demanding protection by the government from the recent epidemic of men going into women’s restrooms – which legislators have so far refused to act on because of their fear of the powerful LGBT influence in the business community.
Our report on this was presented in three parts: Part 1 described the horror stories. Part 2 described Marquitta’s tireless protests and lobbying of politicians, churches, and others. Part 3 described her bizarre and clearly unlawful arrest and jailing – and the absurd, contrived charges filed against her.
From the beginning Marquitta was determined that since she is innocent and no “crime” had been committed, she was not going to plead guilty to anything, plea-bargain, or agree to “community service”, etc.
Turned down by every pro-family law firm (for cowardly reasons)
But an unexpected shock came when it came to finding her a lawyer. We just assumed that a pro-bono pro-family law firm would love to defend a blatant case like this. Over a period of weeks we contacted pro-bono pro-family law firms both locally in Georgia and across the United States. But every firm we contacted turned it down. Some wouldn’t even bother to reply.
Two pro-family attorneys from firms we contacted told us why they wouldn’t touch it: A few months before the incident and arrest, Marquitta was videoed giving a talk at an Atlanta church about the bathroom episodes. She said she was so distraught after encountering a half-naked man in a mall women’s restroom, that she told the mall manager and the mall property owner that she should have allowed her son (who was nearby at the food court) to beat the guy up!
Of course, Marquitta’s church remarks had nothing to do with the protest or arrest. But both attorneys told MassResistance that they were afraid that liberals would say that they were defending someone (this 5-foot tall woman!) “who had advocated violence against a transgender.” It would be bad PR for the firm, and might make their donors uncomfortable, was the message.
In addition, one of the attorneys added that because Marquitta stood up to the police and didn’t simply follow orders like a “good” conservative, they weren’t willing to defend her.
One cannot imagine that the left-wing attack-dog ACLU lawyers would ever wimp out this way. They would just charge forward. This is the sad state of pro-family law in America.
An activist comes to the rescue!
As Marquitta’s April 27 arraignment date got closer with no lawyer in place, we realized that we would need to hire one for her. But who would we get? Even in Georgia, most attorneys are so pro-LGBT that Marquitta would never get their full effort – if they took the case at all.
Then we got a call from Eugene Delgaudio. Eugene is president of the pro-family group Public Advocate of the US, which is based in Virginia. Eugene gets our MassResistance emails, was very upset at what happened to Marquitta, and asked how she was doing. When we mentioned that we desperately needed to find her an attorney who would represent her properly, Eugene didn’t hesitate. He jumped into action.
Eugene got a list of all the criminal defense attorneys in Georgia. He spent many hours researching their backgrounds and where they practiced. He came up with a list of likely family-friendly lawyers who practiced in Fulton County (where Atlanta is located). He relentlessly contacted them with the details of Marquitta’s case. (He did this all simply as a volunteer!) Three of them responded positively. One of them, Larry Kohn, seemed particularly enthusiastic to help Marquitta. He talked to her and she was immediately impressed.
We’ve got our man!
Larry Kohn is known as a “super criminal defense lawyer” in Atlanta circles. He certainly knows what he’s doing and is very easy to work with. We all decided he was the best choice.
MassResistance has agreed to cover Larry Kohn’s fee. Eugene Delgaudio said that if we can come up with half, his organization will pay the other half. Frankly, this is the first time we’ve ever had to pay for legal help. But we definitely think it’s worth it. Unlike so many pro-family attorneys we’ve watched, Larry is primarily interested in winning. He is not willing to simply lay down for the government when their position is not legally or factually correct.
Moving forward
Marquitta is still waiting for notification of when her preliminary hearing will be. The date will probably be in June or July. That’s when the big decisions about the direction of this case will be made. We will keep you informed about this.
Marquitta R. Ford is willing to put herself on the line for all of us. Any support you could give us for Marquitta’s legal defense and MassResistance’s efforts would be greatly appreciated. This is an important case and a VERY important fight!