LINCOLN - A federal judge has rejected a good Samaritan defense sought by a Nebraska man accused of a conspiracy to harbor people living in the country illegally.

The attorney for John Good, of O'Neill, says in a legal brief that his client lived out the lesson of the good Samaritan parable in his dealings with a couple who managed his restaurant in O'Neill.

A prosecution motion says the practice of Christianity doesn't provide a constitutional shield to conspiring to harbor aliens.

In ruling against Good, US District Judge John Gerrard noted an appellate court decision that barred a man accused of distributing heroin from arguing that the free exercise of his religion required him to do it.

Good's trial is scheduled to begin September 16th.