An 89-year-old woman who survived living in a communist prison camp in Eastern Europe is now facing a 10-year prison sentence after being convicted with a group of Christian pro-life activists on Tuesday of allegedly violating the FACE Act. This is how badly the radical left in this country wants to preserve the ability to murder unborn children without facing any consequences. They are willing to lock people up who dare to stand for the unborn by attempting to witness and plead with those seeking an abortion to look for other options.
Not only that, but trying a person this age, after what she went through early in her life, is beyond despicable. Shame on those responsible for this egregious violation of the First Amendment. Lawfare is now being deployed on the American people. We all knew once they started in on former President Donald Trump it would only be a matter of time before it was used on citizens of the nation. We have arrived it seems.
via The Daily Wire:
A jury found Chester Gallagher, Heather Idoni, Joel Curry, Justin Phillips, Cal Zastrow, his daughter Eva Zastrow, and 89-year-old Eva Edl guilty of engaging in a conspiracy against rights and violations of the FACE Act. Edl was forced into a camp as a young child by Yugoslavian communist dictator Josip Broz Tito before fleeing to the United States.
The seven were prosecuted by the Biden administration, which has been using the conspiracy against rights charge, originally designed for the Klu Klux Klan, to go after pro-life activists. They face over 10 years in prison and hundreds of thousands in fines upon sentencing. Sentencing is pending ongoing back-and-forth between the defendants and the Department of Justice as the judge considers several motions filed to dismiss the case.
About a dozen U.S. Marshalls were gathered in and around the courtroom as the verdict was read in front of family members and supporters of the defendants and Justice Department personnel. Immediately after the verdict was handed down, Cal Zastrow said “Isn’t Jesus good? Let’s go to the sidewalk and sing.”
I bet the vile, wicked individuals who convicted this group of folks was shocked and highly offended by such a wonderful display of gratitude and thankfulness to the Lord. No doubt any demonic entities present and influencing the outcome of events recoiled in horror at an obvious display of love for Christ.
The charges against the group, stems from their attempt to “rescue” unborn children from death by standing and sitting outside of a baby murder mill called the Northland Family Planning Clinic in Sterling Heights, Michigan. There was another pro-life organization at the location as well. Both Edl and Idoni were convicted on an additional charge for a pro-life protest they attended at the Women’s Health Clinic in Saginaw, Michigan.
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The jury, composed of five men and seven women, began deliberating on Tuesday morning at 8:30 a.m. local time at the Theodore Levin Federal Courthouse in Detroit. They deliberated for just around three and a half hours. The case was overseen by Judge Matthew Leitman, an Obama appointee.
Should we really be shocked by this outcome when it’s likely that the jury was comprised of mostly radical liberals with an Obama appointee overseeing the whole matter? With a short deliberation like that, it seems pretty obvious these jurors had their minds made up well before all of the evidence was heard.
Throughout the trial, Edl said that it was her faith in Jesus and belief that suffering would strengthen her that kept her going. She said that going through trials was like the process of a blacksmith’s refining fire.
“We need suffering in our lives in order to be purified and not feel sorry about ourselves,” she stated, going on to say that Christians should say “Hammer away, Lord, at that anvil.”
The trial lasted a full seven days and was stuffed to the brim with drama.
Back on Aug. 9, a woman who revealed her name as Sarah, provided testimony concerning interactions she had with the defendants at the abortion mill after she and her husband showed up to murder their unborn child. The couple was told that their son would not survive once he was born, so rather than give him a chance, they decided to guarantee his death through this barbaric procedure.
“Sarah began to cry as soon as she walked into the courtroom and continued to cry throughout questioning from the government. At one point she was led out of the courtroom and she could be heard crying and wailing from the hall. Lawyers for the defense said that the Justice Department was exploiting her pain and trying to manipulate the jury during their closing arguments on Monday,” the Daily Wire’s article read.
It continued, “Caroline Davis, one of the pro-lifers who was at Northland, was a key witness for the government. Her testimony took over a day, as she discussed her previous relationships with the defendants. She pled down her felony charge to a misdemeanor and has been a crucial witness for the Justice Department in multiple cases over similar protests, but has not yet been sentenced for Michigan. Throughout the trial, Leitman repeatedly clashed with David Peters, the lawyer for Phillips. On Monday, he tried to bring up the history behind the conspiracy against rights charge, which was passed in 1870 to deal with groups like the Klu Klux Klan, not peaceful protesters.”
The defense objected. Leitman then ordered the jury to leave the room. He then slammed Peters, saying he was “way over the line” and told him that he might end up holding him in contempt of court.
The prosecution for the Justice Department was led by U.S. Attorney Frances Carlson, Assistant U.S. Attorney Sunita Doddamani, and trial lawyer Laura-Kate Bernstein. They repeatedly said that the defendants were trying to force their Christianity on others, and that they violated a woman’s right to have an abortion.
Is that not the same exact thing the pro-abortion folks are doing, pushing their highly unscientific and immoral views on everyone else? Why is it okay for one group to do that and not another? Shouldn’t these clashing worldviews be allowed to fight it out on the battlefield of ideas?
“Lawyers for the defendants emphasized that their clients’ primary goal was to ‘save babies from slaughter,’ not to intimidate anyone. They also pointed out the peaceful nature of the incident at Northland and how their actions were motivated by their Christian faith,” the article pointed out.