Court wades into Ocala prayer vigil fight

A federal appeals court Thursday will take up a long-running constitutional dispute about a prayer vigil that was backed by the Ocala police chief amid a spate of shootings in the community.

A panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals will hear arguments in an appeal of a lower- court ruling that the September 2014 vigil violated the Establishment Clause of the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment.

Ocala contends that the event had a secular purpose as police sought community assistance in combating the crimes. A key issue involves the role of then-Chief Greg Graham, who, at least in part, posted information about the vigil on Facebook.

“Here, the secular purpose — i.e. to fight crime and catch the culprit — remained clear and understood by all, including the plaintiffs from the first posting on Facebook to the vigil itself,” attorneys for the city wrote in a brief filed at the appeals court.

But attorneys for the plaintiffs disputed that it was a secular event and argued that it violated the Establishment Clause, which bars government “establishment” of religion.

“Neutrality is the touchstone of any Establishment Clause analysis,” the plaintiffs’ attorneys wrote in a brief. “It would take Olympic level stretching to find that the government acted neutrally with regard to religion in this case.”

Marion County residents Art Rojas, Lucinda Hale and Daniel Hale, who were members of the American Humanist Association, filed the lawsuit in November 2014 after attending the vigil, according to the briefs. It named as defendants the city, Ocala Mayor Kent Guinn and Graham, who died in 2020.