Black pastor sentenced to jail for standing outside an inner city abortion clinic holding a sign saying "Jesus Loves You & Your Baby, Let Us Help You," and offering pro-life literature
UPDATE 3/23/09: Wife claims pastor targeted because he's a black man who opposed race-based abortion.
UPDATE: 4/8/09: Pastor released from jail after serving time
-- From "Pastor jailed for Oakland anti-abortion acts" by Henry K. Lee, San Fran. Chronicle Staff Writer 3/21/09
A pastor at a Berkeley church was jailed Friday for 30 days after unsuccessfully arguing that an order requiring him to stay 100 yards away from an Oakland abortion clinic violates his right to free speech.
Walter Hoye, 52, of Union City was the first person convicted under an Oakland ordinance barring protesters from coming within 8 feet of anyone entering an abortion clinic.
[Judge Stuart Hing of Alameda County Superior Court] refused to budge at a hearing Friday at which Hoye's attorneys tried to stay the sentence pending an appeal. The judge asked Hoye to decide whether he wished to serve a month in jail or in an alternative program, and the pastor chose jail.
Hoye could have faced up to two years in jail after a jury convicted him in January of two misdemeanor counts of unlawfully approaching patients at the clinic.
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