A Texas appellate court has found a Texas pastor and a member of his congregation that had been arrested for crossing a police line at an event where they were protesting not guilty.

Pastor Joey Fault and members of the Kingdom Baptist Church in Venus, Texas were protesting at an event in Fort Worth Texas in October 2012.  When some of the event’s attendees were upset the Christians were passing out information and pamphlets that disagreed with the event’s mission, the police formed a human barricade to keep the Christians from being able to reach attendees.

Pastor Faust told the Christian News Network police told them that they could go no further and they were forbidden from even crossing the street.

The pastor and his group continued their protest but then noted police were allowing those who were not part of the church group to pass through their line and across the street.  The pastor then attempted to cross the street and was immediately seized upon by the police and arrested for “interfering with public duties.”  He was jailed for 20 hours and released on $1,500 bail.

Last May, a judge said the pastor and another member of his congregation who arrested on the same charge were guilty.  The case was appealed to the Second District of Texas Court of Appeals that ruled the men were not guilty and that the police had infringed on the First Amendment rights of the church.

“The skirmish line prohibited all member of the church from exercising their right of free speech merely because of their association with the church,” the court rules.  “This is too far a limitation.”