Nov 10
17
Stunning prosecution of peaceful pro-life pastor ends
LifeSiteNews.com – November 16, 2010
All charges dropped against pro-life pastor
By Thaddeus M. Baklinski
OAKLAND, California (LifeSiteNews.com) – The Appellate Division of the Alameda Superior Court has dismissed all criminal charges against Oakland pro-life witness Pastor Walter Hoye. Hoye was arrested in May of 2008, charged, found guilty and imprisoned for peacefully counseling and picketing at a local abortion clinic. He was charged under a 2008 City of Oakland bubble zone ordinance, which prohibits pro-life protesters outside abortion facilities from standing within 8 feet of women seeking abortions. His lawyers claimed the bubble zone ordinance was enacted for the sole purpose of keeping Hoye away from the Oakland abortuary and was an infringement on his constitutional right of free speech.
In January 2009, Hoye was found guilty of two counts of unlawfully approaching women entering an abortion facility, a misdemeanor enshrined in city law the previous spring. At the sentencing hearing, Judge Stuart Hing of the Alameda Superior Court stated that would not impose any fine or jail time on Rev. Hoye if he would agree to stay away from the abortion facility. Rev. Hoye refused these terms. Judge Hing then imposed a 30-day jail sentence, a $1130 fine, and also ordered him to stay one hundred yards away from the abortion facility for three years.
In August 2009, an appeal by Hoye to federal court failed when U.S. District Judge Charles R. Breyer ruled that Oakland’s bubble zone ordinance was constitutional. He said the law protects access to health care, while also allowing protesters to express their opinion.
At the time, one of Hoye’s lawyers, Michael Millen of the Life Legal Defense Foundation (LLDF), announced his intention to appeal the ruling to the Ninth Circuit appellate court, and commented on Judge Breyer’s decision. “It is now illegal to stand still on the sidewalk and extend your arm to hand out a piece of literature,” he said. “I don’t think the Ninth Circuit is going to buy it.” “Mark this day down,” he continued. “On this day, a federal court judge ruled that it is constitutional to put someone in jail for a year for holding out a hand with a leaflet.”