A 30-year-old man named Michael Grant, known to many as Philly Jesus, was found guilty of trespassing an Apple Store in Philadelphia and sentenced to three months' probation.
Grant, a former drug addict, was arrested by the police in May after he refused to leave Apple's Walnut Street store, causing a ruckus. Grant had been visiting the store and using the computers on display to check on his email and charge his phone, according to NJ.com. Grant was dragged from the store in handcuffs and was subsequently charged with defiant trespassing and disorderly conduct.
Apple Store manager Shawn Dobbs testified on Wednesday that Grant's 7-to-8-foot wooden cross was blocking an aisle in the store, so they asked him to leave. But after doing so, Grant became "very aggressive" and caused a commotion, according to the Inquirer Daily News.
It was not the first time Philly Jesus was arrested. Back in 2014, he already faced similar charges for blocking an aisle in LOVE Park with a cross on his hand. Grant maintained that he was targeted for his religious beliefs. The charges he faced then were disorderly conduct and failure to disperse, reported 6 ABC.
In his latest trial, Grant turned down an offer to enter a pre-trial initiative called the Accelerated Misdemeanor Program. If he had accepted it, charges against him would have been dismissed. But his lawyer, Brian J. Zeiger, said they could not accept the initiative because doing so would be "tantamount to a guilty plea," which is out of the question since his client is innocent.
"I think it's important for people to know that he didn't do anything wrong," Zeiger told PhillyVoice. "I think he got picked on at the Apple Store, maybe because of who he is. I also don't think that the police did anything wrong. They were doing their job."
Back in June, Grant's counsel already subpoenaed for the release of the surveillance video inside the Apple store, which they hoped to use to prove Grant's innocence. Unfortunately, the Apple Store said it did not have a video recording of the incident in question.
