WEST VIRGINIA: Man Acquitted For Spitting On Westboro's Shirley Phelps

On Friday a West Virginia jury refused to convict a man for spitting tobacco juice on Westboro Baptist Church leader Shirley Phelps-Roper. Westboro was in West Virginia last year to "celebrate" the deaths of miners killed in a cave-in.

An officer assigned to patrol the event witnessed Spade spitting and arrested him. The officer testified he saw Spade spit on the woman's chest. Spade told jurors he spit on her sign which she was holding above her shoulders. Charleston Police Sgt. Nick Null testified as he was leading Spade away, the victim Shirley Phelps-Roper said, "I'm glad you pigs finally did something." Phelps-Roper is the daughter of the church's controversial pastor Fred Phelps. The jury ruled in the case that Spade committed no crime when he spit on the woman, under the highly charged circumstances. The jury returned its not-guilty verdict in less than an hour.

Hacker: I'm Done With Westboro

(Tipped by JMG reader NYC Girl)

Westboro Mocks The NOH8 Campaign

If you can bear it (or even care) Westboro is tweeting out the link to the below video in which they mock the NOH8 campaign. (Twitter is all they have these days as all of Westboro's sites remain hacked.) Lots of NSFW language from God's Most Holy Family.

America's Most Hated Family (In Crisis)

Clip description:

Following up on his 2007 documentary, The Most Hated Family in America, Louis Theroux returns to Topeka, Kansas, for a week-long visit with the Westboro Baptist Church. He again joins the Phelps family on their controversial pickets where they try to antagonise communities with offensive slogans and anti-gay placards. But four years on from Louis's last visit, there are signs of disarray in the Phelps clan. A series of defections of family members has shaken up the church.

This is Part 1 of four parts.