A legal group has won a judgment on behalf of a Michigan woman who was threatened with jail after police responded to a call following the destruction of her graphic anti-abortion sign.

Lawyers for the Ann Arbor-based Thomas More Law Center said U.S. District Judge David W. McKeague has awarded abortion protester Ann Norton $650 as part of her settlement with the city of Kalamazoo in exchange for Norton dropping her lawsuit against the police department.

The incident began Oct. 11, 2001, when Norton and a friend were picketing a Kalamazoo Planned Parenthood-sponsored abortion clinic. Norton had placed a sign depicting "a color photo of a bloody, aborted female child's head being held by surgical equipment," near the clinic entrance, according to a statement from the Thomas More Law Center.

As Norton, 57, and friend Diane Roberts picketed the clinic, a passerby who disapproved of Norton's sign tore it from its backing, leading Roberts to telephone police.

One officer was dispatched to the clinic to file a report, but several days later, the center said, Norton and Roberts were informed by police they were being charged with a violation of state law for displaying the graphic sign. Michigan statutes prohibit the public display of pictures of murder.

Police eventually dropped the charges because they had failed to confiscate the sign as evidence. However, the Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety warned Norton not to put up new ones depicting the same graphic scenes or she risked arrest and prosecution.

Robert Muise, associate counsel for the center, said he filed suit on behalf of Norton after she contacted him with her story. In the suit, he charged that the state's law "as it applied to her" was an unconstitutional violation of her First Amendment right.

The suit also sought damages from the city and three of its public-safety officers.

In February, McKeague ruled the Michigan statute violated Norton's free-speech rights, permanently enjoining the state attorney general's office, as well as city and county officials, from prosecuting Norton.

As part of her settlement with the city, Norton agreed to dismiss her claims for damages against the officers if the city paid her $650.

Norton said a portion of the city's settlement will be used to buy "several" new pro-life signs "to aid her future anti-abortion protests outside of the Planned Parenthood … facility in Kalamazoo," the law center said.

So, in essence, her new signs will be financed with public funds, the center pointed out.

"Mrs. Norton is very pleased with the results of the case," Muise said. "With this order against the Kalamazoo police, the case is over and Mrs. Norton's First Amendment rights are now completely secured."

The suit named Attorney General Jennifer Granholm, Kalamazoo County Prosecutor James Gregart, Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety Chief Daniel Weston, officer David Hunter and detective Harold West as defendants.

The century-old statute also prohibits the display of the human form in an indecent manner.

Kalamazoo County Counsel Duane Triemstra said the case was never turned over to the prosecutor's office for action, and Gregart had no involvement in it.