Four anti-abortion activists convicted in January on felony conspiracy charges for their roles in a 2021 Tennessee clinic blockade were sentenced this week. The sentences ranged from six months in prison to three years of supervised release. U.S. District Judge Aleta Trauger handed down the sentences, which were lighter than those requested by prosecutors. Trauger acknowledged the defendants’ good works in their communities but emphasized that their religious beliefs did not justify breaking the law. She stated that the defendants used their religious fervor to “give themselves permission to ignore the pain they caused other people and ignore their own humanity.”
Around 200 supporters, including many parents with children, gathered outside the federal courthouse in Nashville before the sentencing hearings on Tuesday and Wednesday. They prayed and rallied, filling the courtroom where the proceedings were relayed over a livestream. The supporters packed the benches, spilled onto the floor, and extended into the hallway.
The convictions stemmed from a blockade at the Carafem reproductive health clinic in Mount Juliet, Tennessee, a town 17 miles east of Nashville. This event occurred nearly a year before the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. The organizers used social media to promote and livestream their actions, hoping to prevent the clinic from performing abortions. They also intended the video as a training tool for other activists, according to Judge Trauger.
At the time of the blockade, abortion was still legal in Tennessee. However, it is now banned at all stages of pregnancy under a law with very narrow exemptions. In total, 11 people were convicted of offenses related to the blockade. The four sentenced this week were among six people convicted of both violating the federal Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act and more serious felony conspiracy charges for their roles as organizers.
Attorneys for the defendants argued that prosecutors went too far in charging them with a felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison and fines of up to $260,000. Ultimately, Judge Trauger ordered much lighter sentences. Paul Vaughn and Dennis Green received three years of supervised release. Coleman Boyd was given five years of probation. Calvin Zastrow, considered one of the main organizers, was sentenced to six months in prison followed by three years of supervised release. Boyd, the only one of the four who could afford it, was ordered to pay a $10,000 fine.
Judge Trauger agreed to postpone sentencing until September for the two remaining felony convictions. Heather Idoni and Chester Gallagher are preparing for an August trial in Michigan on similar charges. Idoni is currently serving a two-year sentence for a 2020 clinic blockade in Washington, D.C.
One defendant, Caroline Davis, who pleaded guilty in October to misdemeanor charges and cooperated with prosecutors, was sentenced to three years of probation in April. Four others were convicted in April of misdemeanor violations for blocking the main clinic door, preventing patients from entering. Police asked them to leave or move multiple times, but they refused and were eventually arrested. They are scheduled to be sentenced on July 30 and face up to six months in prison, five years of supervised release, and fines of up to $10,000, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Tennessee.
The federal indictment unsealed today charges eleven individuals with violations of the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act. The indictment, returned by a federal grand jury in Nashville, charges seven individuals with conspiracy against rights secured by the FACE Act and committing FACE Act violations. The individuals charged include Chester Gallagher, Heather Idoni, Calvin Zastrow, Caroline Davis, Coleman Boyd, Dennis Green, and Paul Vaughn.
The indictment also charges four individuals with committing FACE Act violations: Eva Edl, Eva Zastro, James Zastro, and Paul Place. All defendants will have appearances scheduled in U.S. District Court in Nashville at a later date.
The indictment alleges that beginning in February 2021, Chester Gallagher used social media to promote a series of anti-abortion events scheduled for March 4-7, 2021, in the Nashville area. Other co-conspirators used Facebook to coordinate travel and logistics and to identify other participants for the blockade. On March 4, 2021, Coleman Boyd and Chester Gallagher advertised the blockade of the Carafem Health Center Clinic in Mount Juliet, Tennessee, planned for the following day. Gallagher referred to the blockade as a “rescue” in his social media post. Boyd also began a Facebook livestream broadcast of the clinic blockade at 7:45 a.m. on March 5, 2021. The livestream broadcast was titled, in part, “Mt. Juliet, TN Rescue March 5, 2021,” and showed the blockade event as co-conspirators and others blocked the clinic’s entry doors, preventing a patient and an employee from entering. The livestream also showed members of the group attempting to engage a patient and her companion, with Boyd telling his audience that the patient was a “mom coming to kill her baby.”
The indictment further alleges that on March 5, 2021, the 11 individuals, aided and abetted by one another, used force and physical obstruction to injure, intimidate, and interfere with employees of the clinic and a patient seeking reproductive health services.
If convicted, those charged with conspiracy face up to 11 years in prison and fines of up to $250,000. Others face up to one year in prison for the misdemeanor offense and fines of up to $10,000.
This case was investigated by the FBI and is being prosecuted by the Civil Rights Coordinator of the U.S. Attorney’s Office and trial attorneys of the Department’s Civil Rights Division. An indictment is merely an accusation, and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
Source: Associated Press, KTVZ NewsChannel 21
