Issues4Life

Case Name: Walter B. Hoye II v. City Of Oakland
Case Number: 09-16753
Case Panel: POLLAK, REINHARDT, BERZON
Hearing Date: Friday, October 8th, 2010
Hearing Location: San Francisco, California
Hearing Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
Ninth Circuit Decision: "We Agree With Hoye!" Click Here to download the court's decision.
Life Legal Defense Foundation's: Click Here to download press release.
California Civil Rights Foundation's: Click Here to download press release.
Case Status: Case Dismissed! Click Here.

Here's the history behind this case, live video of both Walter and the abortion clinic escorts on the sidewalk and Walter in the Santa Rita Jail: On Tuesday, May 13th of 2008 Walter B. Hoye II was arrested for allegedly violating "Title 8 Health and Safety Chapter 8.52: Access to Reproductive Health Care Facilities" of Oakland's Municipal Code ¹ on both Tuesday April 29th of 2008 and Tuesday, May 13th of 2008. On Thursday, January 15th, 2009 a jury found him guilty of two (2) violations of section (b) of the ordinance, the "no approach without consent" provision. Both counts are misdemeanors and not felonies. Each count carries a year in jail and/or a $2,000.00 fine. The verdict came exactly one (1) year to the day, Tuesday, January 15th of 2008, since the Oakland City Council passed, what Walter calls, a "No Christ Zone." At 1:30 P.M., Thursday, February 19th of 2009 Walter reported to Department 109 on the fifth (5th) floor of the Wiley W. Manuel Courthouse, 661 Washington Street, Oakland, California 94607-3922, where the Honorable Stuart Hing was presiding to be sentenced. Walter faced a maximum penalty of two (2) years in jail and a $4,000.00 fine. According to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, the Oakland "Ordinance is largely modeled after the Colorado statute held constitutional in Hill v. Colorado, 530 U.S. 703 (2000)." Here is the courts conclusion: "Because the Ordinance is modeled on the Colorado statute upheld in Hill, that opinion controls much of our analysis in this case and leads us to the conclusion that the Ordinance is a facially valid restriction on the time, place, and manner of speech. But Hill did not concern in any way the activities of escorts, that is, individuals engaged in counteracting the effect of anti-abortion protestors' speech by facilitating potential patients' access to clinics. Accordingly, there was no contention in Hill that Colorado enforced its statute only against anti-abortion speakers. In contrast, Oakland appears to have read into its Ordinance an exception for speech that facilitates access to reproductive health services and so has enforced the Ordinance against anti-abortion speakers but not pro-abortion speakers. We conclude that, in doing so, Oakland unconstitutionally suppresses speech based on the content of its message."

Walter has received numerous forms of communication asking the question: "What happened in front of the abortion clinic?" on the dates in question. As such, the video clips below are provided to give the viewer a sense of what was happening in front of the abortion clinic, live footage of Walter in jail and represents an attempt to visually document the case for posterity, and for later review. ^Top So, what's happening in front of the abortion clinic? Walter is in black wearing a baseball cap that says "Got Jesus?" on the front while standing on a public sidewalk in front of an abortion clinic in Oakland, California. Additionally, he is holding literature, carrying a sign that says: "God [Jesus] loves you and your baby. Let us help you." To those entering the abortion clinic Walter says: "Good morning, may I talk to you about alternatives to the clinic." The others on the public sidewalk with Walter, wearing orange vests are volunteering as abortion clinic escorts. These abortion clinic escorts are purposefully blocking Walter's person and sign with their blank signs. The video clips below are taken from the interactions between Walter and the abortion clinic escorts on Tuesday, April 29th, 2008 and Tuesday, May 13th, 2008 between 8:30 and 10:00 in the morning. Please Note: These particular clips were selected and reviewed to ensure that no patient would be identifiable from the video. ^Top

Reference: 1. Oakland Municipal Code: "Title 8 Health and Safety Chapter 8.52: Access to Reproductive Health Care Facilities."
Click here Or here. These links were last accessed on Tuesday, July 2nd, 2019.