Posted on 08/26/2010 9:35:36 PM PDT by SmithL
OAKLAND -- An Alameda County court panel has overturned an anti-abortion pastor's convictions for illegally approaching patients outside an Oakland clinic, saying a judge's flawed instructions could have allowed jurors to find him guilty for conduct that was legal.
Walter Hoye of Union City, a pastor at a Berkeley church, was the first person convicted under a 2008 Oakland ordinance that created an 8-foot "bubble" around patients entering reproductive health clinics. The law prohibited knowingly entering that zone to harass a client or offer counseling without the person's consent.
A Superior Court judge sentenced Hoye to 30 days in jail in March 2009 after he refused a probation condition that would have required him to stay 100 yards from the Family Planning Specialists Medical Group at Second and Webster streets.
Hoye served his jail term while appealing his two misdemeanor convictions. He has also challenged the ordinance in federal court, where a judge upheld it in August 2009.
In a ruling Wednesday, a three-judge Superior Court panel said trial Judge Stuart Hing had failed to tell jurors what they had to conclude before convicting Hoye.
When jurors asked Hing during deliberations to define the "approach" that the ordinance prohibited, the judge told them to use the everyday meaning of the word.
But the panel said the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in a similar case from Colorado in 2000 that an abortion protester who stands still, and speaks or hands leaflets to patients who walk by, cannot be convicted of knowingly approaching the patient.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
Freedom of speech...
Mr. Hoye is a very courageous man. His trust in the Lord gave him strength through this bogus trial.
This man is a rare hero. God bless him.
The term abortion of course is just a trite euphemism because pressing the cancel button on a computer program is an abortion but ending the life of a developing human is not just a simple “abortion” but a killing.
Justice for a real humanitarian.
Thank you, Lord.
God bless you, pastor.
Walter Hoye, a true civil rights activist.
There... fixed it.
Can he sue the city for malicious prosecution, false prosecution, or any similar action? He was forced to go thru a trial which is far from cheap with lawyers and costs. He spent 30 days of his life in jail. He should receive some compensation for having been put thru that.
God bless the heroic Walter Hoye! He and his wonderful wife Lori keynoted our prolife conference last summer. They are true Christian patriots. Their quiet determination has found favor with God.
God bless him!
Ping.
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