Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, April 17, 1990 TAG: 9004170181
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LAURENCE HAMMACK STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The protesters, who came from as far away as Pennsylvania to participate in a Feb. 28 demonstration at the Roanoke Medical Center for Women, were convicted of trespassing.
Each was sentenced to 30 days in jail and fined $500 - a punishment that Roanoke General District Judge Richard Pattisall suspended on the condition that they refrain from future illegal gatherings.
While admitting to trespassing, the protesters argued that they should be protected from prosecution by a "necessity defense."
Such a defense, they argued, would entitle them to break the law in order to prevent "imminent threat or harm" - in this case, what they contend to be the killing of unborn babies.
"I would do the same if I saw a child entering a sawmill, or a child drowning in a swimming pool," said Diane Curley, one of the protesters.
But as Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Alice Ekirch pointed out, the defense was based on a personal belief about abortion that was not relevant to the case at hand.
"Regardless of the way one feels about abortion . . . the issue here is one of criminal trespass," Ekirch said.
When clinic officials came to work the morning of Feb. 28, they found the front and back doors of the building blocked by protesters who linked arms, sang hymns and refused to let anyone enter.
The demonstrators said they would leave only if promised that no abortions would be performed that day at the clinic.
"You have here a principled, well-meaning cause, but you are directing your energy, your talent and your abilities in the wrong avenue," Pattisall told the demonstrators. The judge warned that he would impose the suspended jail terms if there are future problems.
But the protesters, many of whom carried Bibles and quoted Scripture in court Monday, said they were following a higher law than the Code of Virginia. Some said they would appeal.
The necessity defense has been tried unsuccessfully in other courts by abortion protesters, who argue that their religious beliefs entitle them to interfere with business at abortion clinics.
A deaf protester advocated his position through sign language. "We were trying to save some lives," Robert Charles Vizzini said through an interpreter.
But Mary Nottingham, director of the clinic, said the demonstrators accomplished little. Although some women scheduled to have abortions were turned away the morning of Feb. 28, all returned later in the day.
Nottingham said after the hearing that she was "somewhat disappointed" that the demonstrators were not at least required to pay a fine.
"But it does send a clear message" that sit-ins and other disruptive demonstrations will not be tolerated, she said.
Nottingham, who has asked city officials to revoke the protesters' permit to gather outside the Second Street facility, has complained that the anti-abortion activists often intimidate patients and disrupt business at the clinic.
The Feb. 28 demonstration was the largest so far.
Martha Scott, a clinic secretary, testified Monday that at least 30 protesters were blocking the doors in lines three deep when she arrived at work about 7:30 a.m.
"I asked them to get out of the way . . . and they basically ignored me," Scott testified.
Nottingham testified that the protesters refused to move after she told them they were trespassing. Police warned the protesters that they would be arrested unless they left.
"They sat down" at that point, Lt. Paul Adams of the Roanoke Police Department testified.
At that point, at least 30 police officers who had gathered began to pick up the protesters and carry them to buses to take them to the Roanoke Civic Center to be formally charged.
All of the people convicted Monday were from out of town, although a Roanoke juvenile was among those arrested.
John Saul of Boones Mill, who has organized previous demonstrations in Roanoke, was unable to attend the hearing Monday because he is serving a jail sentence in Maryland related to an abortion protest. His hearing will be held later this month.
It took most of the day to try the cases. After calling a recess at one point, Pattisall invited David Lytle, a defendant involved in organizing the demonstration, to meet with him and prosecutors in chambers.
Ekirch declined the invitation, and asked the judge when court reconvened why he suggested the meeting and what was said.
Pattisall described it as an informal opportunity to "stretch out for a moment" and "engage in general dialogue" about how best to handle the remaining cases.
Ekirch said she declined the invitation because "anything that's done in the case should be done out in the open. There's nothing to hide."
by CNB