Kevin Grasha

kgrasha@enquirer.com

John Forest Thomer had a right to stand outside the Hamilton County courthouse Tuesday dressed like a zombie.

He could even express himself by growling. He just couldn’t use megaphone, disrupt a bench trial inside and ignore repeated orders to stop, a judge said.

Thomer, 28, was found in contempt of court and ordered to spend three days in jail.

“I support the First Amendment rights of everybody,” Common Pleas Judge Robert Ruehlman told him, according to court transcripts. “But I can govern the mechanism that you use to broadcast your protest… It’s not your right to disrupt.”

Thomer was at the courthouse, along with a zombie puppet and other props, in support of a Sycamore Township man who faces multiple zoning violations because of a zombie nativity scene he set up on his front lawn.

Jasen Dixon, whose zombie nativity scene has received national attention, entered not guilty pleas Tuesday in Municipal Court. He said it’s a First Amendment issue.

“There’s nothing vulgar or anything about the nativity scene,” Dixon said outside the courtroom, adding that his Facebook page devoted to the display has more than 7,000 followers.

The display was taken down Dec. 26, Dixon said.

Comments on social media have accused Sycamore Township trustees of being anti-zombie. Trustees have said zombies are not the reason Dixon’s nativity fell under scrutiny. Instead, it's the zoning violations presented by the accessory structure in front of his house.

The next court hearing is set for Feb. 2.

Thomer is described in court documents as an artist “with experience in marketing.” Last year, the city of Cincinnati paid him $25,000 to settle a lawsuit filed after he was arrested at a 2012 Party at the Park event. He had been asking people if they wanted "to laugh at the crippled girl" to promote the comedy act of a wheelchair-bound girl who has muscular dystrophy.

Court documents also show Thomer was convicted of disorderly conduct and resisting arrest after projecting a 60-foot pink dinosaur on the stage ceiling while comedian Tom Arnold was performing at a 2013 event at Sawyer Point. He also handed Arnold a business card.

Thomer is known to drive a car displaying profanities. He told The Community Press last year that he intended to take the car on a cross-country free speech road trip.