Bill Higgins

Prosecutor Bill Higgins did Adultery, she says he raped her. Higgins wasn't punished but punishes other people.

Who said, " He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone"? According to Christian teachings Jesus Christ said that. Conservative Christians are very good at ignoring the Bible whenever the Bible is inconvenient for them. See below for what a fine upstanding representative Bill Higgins is. See below for reasons the People of Bedford, Pennsylvania should wonder why they chose Higgins to represent them.

Adultery and possible sexual assault
Bill Higgins cheated on his wife. He even did it in his local courthouse office. Was the adultery consensual? We don't know though she accused him of sexual assault. Here's what someone who doesn't respect Bill Higgins at all wrote in 2014.

"We always say how people who moralize the most usually have a few not so savory skeletons in their own closets. That theory is, once again, proven to be quite accurate. Meet Bedford County, PA District Attorney Bill Higgins. (...) Higgins also admitted to an extramarital affair, which he conducted out of his office. He admitted to having sex with a woman in his office at the courthouse after a Bedford County Repbulicans meeting. The woman eventually sued him for sexual harassment, but the charges were dropped. What do you want to bet she was pressured into dropping them, seeing how Higgins was the vice-chair of the organization at the time of the office sex? This man has some nerve, talking about what offends anyone’s morals, considering what kind of person he is. He’s hardly moral, but he is a hypocrite, and vindictive to boot."

Below is some of what the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette wrote on August 27, 2008 which was fairly soon after the adultery happened. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette has won Pulitzer prizes and other awards so it's the type of Newspaper we can trust.

"William Higgins, the district attorney of Bedford County, says he committed adultery but not a crime when he had sex with a woman in his courthouse office six weeks ago. [six weeks previously in 2008] The woman, though, now says Mr. Higgins sexually assaulted her the night of July 10. She filed a private criminal complaint against him (...) Mr. Higgins, who is 34 and married, said the woman's allegations were 'personally and politically motivated.' A Republican who was re-elected to his second term as district attorney last year, he declined to elaborate on how politics figured into the allegation against him. (...) His sexual encounter with the woman followed a committee meeting of Bedford County Republicans. Mr. Higgins was vice chairman of the county GOP at the time. By his account, the woman drove to his office to meet him, and they had consensual sex."

Was it consensual? As the case didn't get to court we don't know.

So were the allegations "personally and politically motivated"? On the one hand there are deep divisions between various factions of the Republican Party so politically motivated attacks between Republicans are possible. On the other hand if we believe what Higgins claims we must assume any hypothetical political problems between the two weren't important enough to stop her driving to his office for Sex in July 2008 but had become much more serious 6 weeks later. Is that at all likely? Anyway for Bill Higgins as an adult over 30 doing it with with a lady in his office is OK so long as nobody can prove he committed a crime and nobody can get him for it.

Porn star
Here's more about the character of the man the Conservative Christians of Bedford, Pennsylvania have representing them.

"Mr. Higgins tweeted that he liked a YouTube video from the Howard Stern radio show. Mr. Stern is known for his love of all things outrageous and perverted, and this episode was no different. Porn star Nick Manning was a guest, and the hot topic was Mr. Manning’s ejaculation habits. (...) Higgins enjoyed hearing about a porn star’s sex life, and even told the world that about it."

Humiliating women
Higgins pressured two women to stand outside a courthouse with degrading posters about offenses after they had been charged but not convicted. The judge should decide how offenders are punished after a trial and proof of guilt, that's not the role of a prosecutor.

It's sad nobody forced Higgins to stand outside anywhere with a sign saying,

"I cheated on my wife with another woman! Don't cheat on your partner of this could happen to you!"

Animal cruelty
"These poor animals have been chained for weeks and months. One dog is blind, they are all in very poor condition (...) There is a dog shelter in Bedford run by very competent people and they have been willing to take the poor animals into care. (...) local District Attorny Bill Higgins, will not give the shelter permission to save them. The D A claims that the dogs are OK and can continue their lives on the streets, chained, starving." Higgins is hard on Dogs and Humans, see above and below.

Bullying a kid
A 14 year old kid did something far less harmful than what Higgins himself has done. Did Higgins show any compassion? Keep reading and you'll soon find out.

The statue
A Teenager messed with a Jesus statue, Higgins wrote

"This troubled young man offended the sensibilities and morals of OUR community. … His actions constitute a violation of the law, and he will be prosecuted accordingly. If that tends to upset the ‘anti-Christian, ban-school-prayer, war-on-Christmas, oppose-display-of-Ten-Commandments’ crowd, I make no apologies" Higgins thinks this broke some law hardly anyone has heard of or knows exists.

"[Bill Higgins] is viciously going after a 14-year-old boy for what most people would consider a harmless, youthful prank: simulating oral sex with a statue of Jesus."

So adultery in a courtroom doesn't offend sensibilities but the kid did. Many people have pointed out how unfair and hypocritical it all was, see below.

The Kid didn't cheat on anyone's wife as Higgins did. Since the statue is an inanimate object nobody was harmed. The kid was prosecuted. Also as an adult Bill Higgins should act more responsibly than a 14-year-old. Does he?

So adultery is apparently OK for Higgins but where's the mercy for a kid who can't defend himself? No one was prevented from worshiping.

"Are we really supposed to believe that this kid snapping a picture with their statue, a picture that no one even knew existed until someone saw it on Facebook and immediately went into maximum pearl clutching mode, in any way infringes on their rights to worship as they believe? It’s a picture, Bill. No actual damage was done to the statue."

And again:

"He may have caused offense to some, but he caused no damage. His only ‘crime’ was offending an overzealous district attorney. (...) No one infringed upon the church members’ right to worship however they please. The only right that has been taken away is this teen’s right to speak in a way that apparently offended Mr. Higgins. (...)"

The law Higgins used to charge the boy is dubious, law professor Eugene Volokh wrote.

"This case raises three legal issues: (1) The wording is overly vague; (2) No physical damage was inflicted; and (3) Can this statute override the boy’s right to free — albeit highly dubious and utterly tasteless — speech."

An organisation called Americans United for Separation of Church and State is also uneasy.

"The law is so broad that it has a chilling effect on free speech, allows government officials to target any message they don’t like and impermissibly uses the law to achieve religious goals. [T]he teenager is being prosecuted because of the County's disagreement with the message conveyed by his conduct, including the teenager’s apparent disrespect for a symbol of the Christian religion (...) The statute in general and this prosecution in particular violate the [First Amendment] by targeting conduct based on its message. (...) The government may not throw citizens in jail just because others find their speech offensive or blasphemous, We urge the district attorney to drop this religiously motivated criminal prosecution."

So how would You feel if someone like Bill Higgins were representing you in the legal department where you live? Below is what a resident in the area round where Higgins is thinks and it’s scary.

"Bill Higgins is using Facebook and this case to win himself votes the next time he is up for re-election. He sounds like a host on Fox News, not a representative of our criminal justice system. Either he actually believes the insanity he is spewing, in which case it terrifies me that he has the power to prosecute, or he is parroting right wing talking points to score points with the rabid local far right. Either way, how can any non-Christian accused of a crime read that statement and not worry about malicious prosecution, or prosecutorial misconduct? Let me be clear that I am not accusing DA Bill Higgins of either act, merely pointing out questions that may arise in the minds of non-Christians who find themselves prosecuted by his office because of idiotic, antagonistic, bigoted, prejudicial, unprofessional, inflammatory statements of his that make it clear that as the highest ranking official in the Bedford County legal department, he only represents the Christian majority."

Teens and sex
Why did the teen mess with the statue? Younger teens have little experience managing their developing sex drive, all too often they have little Education about what's acceptable sexually. Then if things go wrong conservatives like to punish the teens. When a 14-year old is big for his age and looks superficially mature it's easy to target he's a teen teen and treat him as if he had adult responsibility. Doing that's totally unfair because big 14-year old's are just as inexperienced as small 14-year old's.
 * Lucky teens get good Sex education at School. That includes teaching,
 * Respect your partner,
 * Respect anyone else you're affecting like the owners of a statue who haven't given permission for what you want to do. Respect people on Facebook who may not want to see what you plan to post.
 * Unlucky teens live where Conservatives decide things, they Get told to abstain till they're married but beyond that they don't get much adult advice. Anyone who understands human sexuality knows young people with normal sex drives won't remain Celibate till they're married.
 * So teens have to try and work out for themselves what they should and shouldn’t do sexually.
 * So teens have to try and work out for themselves what only matters a little bit and what matters a great deal.

A more humane and more Liberal approach is teaching teens about responsible sexual behavior as well as teaching how to avoid unwanted pregnancy.

Protest
The ACLU got involved when Conservatives wanting to punish the kid over the Jesus statue.

"The American Civil Liberties Union is expressing interest in the case of an Everett 14-year-old charged with “desecrating” a statue of Jesus. On Thursday, a Pittsburgh-based ACLU attorney said the state law cited in the case – a rarely invoked ban on “defacing, damaging, polluting or … mistreating” venerated symbols – poses constitutional problems. State police charged the teen Tuesday, several weeks after he posted photographs online of a simulated sex act with the Everett statue. “There are some serious First Amendment issues with this statute” if merely gesturing next to an image is enough to be charged, said Sara Rose, a staff attorney with the ACLU of Pennsylvania. The case has been debated nationally, with news websites and bloggers on both sides of the issue discussing the charge. An ACLU media representative said several people have sent her office copies of the article."

There was a public demonstration but Police did not protect protestors.

"Unfortunately, [a protest against the prosecution and in favour of free speech] was marred when a belligerent group of counter protesters, including two from what appeared to be a motorcycle gang, crashed the protest and threatened those in attendance, including [the author of this quote, Wayne Besen] and the 14-year old boy arrested for suggestively posing with the Jesus statue. Incredibly, there was not a single police officer on-hand to prevent potential violence and this left the protesters vulnerable to thugs and forced them to fend for themselves. The Bedford police placed us directly in harms way and their inaction nearly caused a full-blown melee. (…) One of the hooligans decided to accost the boy who was at the center of the controversy. [Wayne Besen] quickly intervened and this led to a near altercation. (…) The police were called and they arrived shortly to disperse the escalating confrontation. However, the question remains why they were not at the event from the beginning to keep the protest free of intimidation and violence? [Wayne Besen is] still greatly worried for the safety of the teenage boy and his family. Make no mistake: If anything happens to them, the town of Bedford is to blame and should be held legally accountable."

It gets stranger.

"During the protest, at which no police protection was offered, organizers were confronted by a belligerent group of counter protesters, including two from what appeared to be a motorcycle gang. Further investigation by Truth Wins Out has revealed that the most vocal biker look-alike, who threatened attendees including the child in question, was Randy Delozier, owner of the Bedford County Free Press. Local residents have suggested that Delozier enjoys a close friendship with DA Higgins, and that just this year they have been photographed together amicably. Even stranger was the fact that Delozier repeatedly and loudly demanded that protest organizers not mention the DA’s past indiscretions, referring to the fact that Higgins was accused in 2008 of sexually assaulting a woman in his office."

Punishment
In the end the kid had to do 350 hours community service and was banned from social media for 6 months. Also the kid and his family spent several months worrying over whether he would end up in custody. If someone in authority had given the kid a careful explanation that we shouldn't mess with other people's property the way he did no liberals would have complained. Still the punishment was way out of proportion leaving liberals outraged.

Statue owners
"Love In the Name of Christ" which owns the statue say they didn't want the kid prosecuted they stated,

"You know we’ve been praying for salvation for him and just that he would realize what he had done was wrong. All that I’ve wanted for the man is the best for him and I know that’s what the ministry wants for him." "The ministry ['Love In the Name of Christ'] says that if the teen has to perform community service, they hope he can do it here."

The teaching of, "Love In the Name of Christ" includes "We believe in the resurrection of both the saved and the lost; they that are saved unto the resurrection of life and they are lost unto the resurrection of damnation." If they follow their own teaching that could mean:

Liberapedia hopes those Atheists who protested about the way the kid was treated will stay in touch and make sure the kid understands there's no reason to believe what "Love In the Name of Christ" may use to try and make him hopeful about Heaven or may use to scare him about Hell. After all:
 * They want to promise the kid nice things in Heaven provided he's good the way they like and believes the way they do.
 * They want to frighten the kid over Hell if he isn't good the way they like or doesn't believes the way they do.

"And if there is a god who punishes people for rational doubt, why would you want to spend an eternity with it anyway? Such a capricious, egotistical, and nasty god wouldnt be much fun. If you cant trust it to be as moral as you are, you cant trust it to keep its promises and make heaven nice or even let you stay for long. Not spending eternity with such a being doesnt sound like much of a loss."

Christianity under attack
Bill Higgins was also complaining about, “Christianity under attack.”

Is Christianity under attack? The Christianity of Bill Higgins, the Religious Right and the Bible Belt is certainly under attack, for example:

"I guess the post facto discovery of the Jesus fellatio outraged the sensibilities of Christians, who sometimes approach Muslims in their capacity for manufactured outrage. (Jerry Coyne)"

Many people are likely put off Christianity when they see a kid being punished so hard in the name of err... Jesus Christ:

"The boy must not use social media during a six-month probation period as well as perform 350 hours of community service. Among the other punishments, he must obey a curfew of 10 p.m."

Still we shouldn't forget Liberal Christianity is gentler and more compassionate than Conservative Christians are.

Warning
Take care before posting sexy pictures of yourself online, see Sexy pictures for more.

Back in the News Again
Bill HIggins has been named a 2015 Muzzle Award winner by The Thomas Jefferson Center for free expression.

Many people are very angry about the hypocrite, Bill Higgins but some might go too far.