Funeral protester
with Phelps group charged after son stomps on American
flag

A member of an antigay Kansas group that has drawn criticism for protesting at soldiers' funerals was charged Thursday with misdemeanors after her son stomped on a U.S. flag during a demonstration last month in Bellevue, Neb.

Shirley Phelps-Roper, 49, of Topeka, Kan., was charged with negligent child abuse, contributing to the delinquency of a minor, flag mutilation, and disturbing the peace.

''I have not failed to do my duty to my children, to my God, or to my fellow countrymen, and I take my job dead serious,'' Phelps-Roper said Thursday. She said Sarpy County prosecutor Lee Polikov ''has pointed the big guns of government at my liberty and at my children.''

Polikov did not immediately respond to a message left Thursday afternoon.

Phelps-Roper is a member of the Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka and the daughter of the church's founder, the Reverend Fred Phelps. For years church members have protested at funerals of gay people who have died of AIDS complications or as a result of antigay violence, including the funeral of murder victim Matthew Shepard, with signs asserting the deceased will go to hell for being gay. Westboro members are protesting at military funerals because they claim U.S. soldiers' deaths are God's punishment for the nation's acceptance of gays and lesbians.

The American Civil Liberties Union will likely represent Phelps-Roper but was waiting for official approval from its board, said Laurel Marsh, executive director of ACLU Nebraska.

Phelps-Roper acknowledged that she allowed her 10-year-old son, Jonah, to stand on the flag. She said the act qualifies as freedom of expression, and she promised to challenge the constitutionality of the flag mutilation charge. She also said that the U.S. Supreme Court has struck down laws forbidding flag desecration.

Nebraska's flag law defines flag mutilation as when a ''person intentionally casts contempt or ridicule upon a flag by mutilating, defacing, defiling, burning, or trampling upon such flag.''

The June 5 funeral in Bellevue was for Nebraska Army National Guard specialist William ''Bill'' Bailey, who was killed May 25 when an explosive device struck his vehicle in Iraq. (Oskar Garcia, AP)