The Left does not care about Americans, and they certainly have no respect for our rights. But now, things have taken an extreme turn.
And a disturbing attack on Americans’ First Amendment rights has citizens extremely concerned.
Following accusations from the Biden administration regarding a nonviolent demonstration outside an abortion facility in Tennessee, four pro-life Christians were found guilty on Tuesday of violating the Face Act.
Eva Edl, Eva Zastrow, James Zastrow, and Paul Place are the four people found guilty.
Upon sentencing, they could receive a year in prison and fines totaling thousands of dollars. Right now, they are scheduled for sentencing on July 30.
The defendants’ fate rested with Middle District of Tennessee Magistrate Judge Chip Frensly, who rendered the decision following a one-day bench trial.
Frensly judged the pro-lifers guilty and concurred with the Justice Department’s accusations that they had broken the law.
The judge took less than thirty minutes to deliberate. The defendants and their family walked outside the courthouse to sing and pray as soon as they were found guilty.
Amanda Klopf, the prosecuting attorney for the DOJ, stated that the four had participated in criminal action rather than a protest and that the case concerned the application of the law.
Attorney Kyle Boynton stated that the four were “not on trial for their beliefs,” but rather for their deeds, during the DOJ’s closing remarks.
The defendants’ attorneys claimed that their clients were merely peacefully observing their beliefs.
Place’s attorneys claimed that the trial showed the federal government’s extreme overreach and that the Biden administration was bringing charges against “people who were simply expressing their beliefs in a non-violent way.”
According to Edl’s attorney, the group’s purpose was to “pray, sing, and worship” in order to discourage women from having abortions.
The four were charged after taking part in a nonviolent pro-life demonstration on March 5, 2021, at the Carafem abortion clinic in Mount Juliet, Tennessee.
That day, protesters congregated in the corridor outside Carafem on the second floor of an office building.
The group encouraged ladies who showed up to the clinic to forgo abortions while praying and singing hymns. The trial was held at Nashville’s Fred Thompson Federal Courthouse.
Pictures of the four sitting in front of the Carafem door were shown throughout the trial, but their attorneys contended that the DOJ never provided evidence that they had actually prevented anyone from entering or interfered with the facility’s employees’ ability to do their jobs.
A woman who had an appointment at the facility the morning of the trial, a former employee of Carafem, a police officer from Mt. Juliet who processed pro-lifers arrested on March 5, and Caroline Davis, who was among those detained at the protest before accepting a plea deal and consenting to testify for the government, all gave testimony.
Davis, who maintained that her involvement had resulted in a “massive change in perspective and beliefs,” was a major element of the DOJ’s case.
Dozens of people cheering for the defendants filled the gallery of the courtroom.
Before the trial on Tuesday morning, a number of supporters and relatives convened to offer prayers and sing spiritual songs such as “Holy, Holy, Holy” and “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross.”
Before the trial started, Edl, who was raised in Eastern Europe and lived through a Communist concentration camp, gave a brief speech in which she declared, “Whatever happens, we are in the Lord’s hands.”
Six further protest participants were found guilty in January of violating the FACE Act and conspiring to violate civil rights. They risk more than ten years in jail as well as fines totaling hundreds of thousands.
Stay tuned to Prudent Politics for updates on this developing story and more.
