'Gardening while black': lawsuit targets white accusers over 'outrageous' claims

'Gardening while black': lawsuit targets white accusers over 'outrageous' claims
Farmer Marc Peeples was accused of joining a drive-by shooting and being a pedophile – leading to a case a judge called ‘ridiculous’

Tom Perkins in Detroit
Fri 8 Mar 2019 12.00 GMT

Throughout 2017 and early 2018, three white women in Detroit accused Marc Peeples, a black urban farmer, of a range of serious crimes. Among other allegations, they reported to police that he was brandishing a gun, participated in a drive-by shooting targeting one of their homes, and was a convicted pedophile.

That final accusation, made in May as Peeples and several homeschooled children worked in an urban garden near the women’s homes, led to his arrest and stalking charges.

However, a judge found the women’s accusations to be untrue and tossed the criminal case. At the October hearing, Judge E Lynise Bryant called the case “ridiculous” and “disgusting” while admonishing police and prosecution for moving forward with it.

Now, Peeples is suing the three women – Deborah Nash, Martha Callahan, and Jennifer Morris – and asking for $300,000 in damages.

Though Peeples’ defense was successful, he lost his garden and his work contracts, and had to pay for defense attorneys and for bond to get out of jail. He added that the case took an emotional toll and left him humiliated by the accusations when, in fact, all he had been doing was “gardening while black”.

-snip-