Kan. woman drops lawsuits in exchange for end to Nebraska case over soldier’s funeral protest

Kan. woman drops suit challenging federal flag law

PAPILLION, Neb. — A member of Kansas’ Westboro Baptist Church has agreed to drop federal lawsuits challenging the constitutionality of a law that made it illegal to defile or deface the U.S. flag.

Shirley Phelps-Roper had been scheduled to face charges Monday of disturbing the peace and negligent child abuse after she allowed her 10-year-old son to trample an American flag during a protest at a National Guardsman’s funeral in Bellevue, Neb., in 2007. Authorities say she wore a flag as a skirt.

In the deal Monday, she agreed to drop her case in exchange for a Nebraska prosecutor dropping those charges against her.

Members of the Westboro church based in Topeka, Kan., protest at soldiers’ funerals because they believe U.S. troop deaths are punishment for the nation’s tolerance of homosexuality.