More Details on the Not Guilty verdict in Pastor Anderson's trial last Friday

08-14-2010 • Pastor Steven L Anderson

On Friday, August 13, 2010, a jury found Pastor Steven L Anderson not guilty of both misdemeanor charges brought against him. The two charges were “obstructing the highway” and “resisting an order directing, regulating, or controlling a motor vehicle,” and involved an incident on April 14, 2009, when Pastor Anderson refused a warrantless search of his vehicle at an internal border patrol checkpoint at mile marker 78 of eastbound I-8, 75 miles east of Yuma, AZ (55 miles north of the international border). The 1 hour and 15 minute standoff ended with Border Patrol and Arizona DPS officers shattering out the car’s windows, tasering Pastor Anderson for 18 seconds, and maliciously shoving his face into broken glass and roughing him up before taking him to the hospital and then ultimately to jail. A six person jury from Wellton, AZ, found Pastor Anderson of Faithful Word Baptist Church not guilty on the count of “obstructing the highway.” When asked why, one of the jurors stated th