LifeNews.com Editor
February 19, 2009
Oakland, CA (LifeNews.com) -- A pro-life African-American pastor has been sentenced to 30 days in jail for sharing a pr-life message outside local abortion centers. Walter Hoye was previously found guilty of violating what pro-life attorneys call an unconstitutional city law designed specifically to target him.
Oakland officials had enacted the law, which has been heavily criticized as an unconstitutional limit on free speech.
The ordinance prohibits contact within eight feet of women entering abortion businesses without their consent.
Today, Hoye was sentenced by Judge Hing of the Alameda Superior Court to serve 30 days in county jail . The court will allow Hoye to serve his time by an alternative method such as community service.
However, Hoye will be forced to pay a $1,130 fine and has been ordered to stay away from the abortion business and no longer help women find abortion alternatives.
Allison Aranda, a staff attorney with the Life Legal Defense Foundation, a pro-life law firm representing Hoye in the case, says an appeal is forthcoming.
“It is absolutely incredible that in America an individual can be sentenced to jail for engaging in peaceful free speech activity on a public sidewalk,” she told LifeNews.com Thursday afternoon. “We will appeal.”
Full story HERE
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