A Savannah law firm has successfully defended a Georgia jail manager in a federal court trial regarding a couple’s First Amendment rights to receive the special vegan meals they requested due to their religious beliefs while incarcerated there.

Patrick O'Connor of Oliver Maner, Savannah. (Photo: John Disney/ALM) Patrick O’Connor of Oliver Maner, Savannah. (Photo: John Disney/ALM)

On Wednesday, during a two-day trial in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Georgia in Brunswick, a jury ruled in favor of the defendant, Maj. Randy Austin, in a civil case. Pastor Tracy Christopher Smith and his wife, Candice Smith, sued Austin, an assistant jail administrator at the Glynn County Detention Center, for his role in eliminating vegan meal trays for the Smiths and the 10 to 13 other inmates requesting them for the first six days of May 2019.