The federal trial of six defendants – Chet Gallagher, Heather Idoni, Cal Zastrow, Coleman Boyd, Paul Vaughn, and Dennis Green – began on Wednesday, January 24, in Nashville. All are facing felony conspiracy charges as well as felony FACE Act charges for their participation in a reportedly peaceful protest at an abortion facility in Mt. Juliet, Tennessee, in March of 2021.
This is the fourth recent high-profile federal trial of pro-lifers charged with conspiracy and FACE Act violations for their peaceful activism at abortion facilities. The first group of five defendants, one of whom (Heather Idoni) is currently being tried again in Nashville, and all of whom were found guilty, faced trial last August. A second trial of three defendants, who were also found guilty, occurred in September. A third trial for a single defendant was held in November – she was also found guilty. Those three trials took place in Washington, D.C., and were all related to a rescue action at Cesare Santangelo’s infamous Washington Surgi-Clinic abortion facility.
Like the defendants who were tried before them, the six defendants being tried in Nashville also face a combined total of up to 11 years in federal prison – one year for the FACE Act charge, and up to 10 years on the conspiracy charge. They also face up to $260,000 in fines.
Also like their predecessors, the Nashville defendants are accused of blocking employees and customers from freely accessing an abortion facility – in this case, one operated by Carafem.
READ: Bill introduced to repeal ‘weaponized’ FACE Act largely used against peaceful pro-lifers
In yet a third similarity to the previous trials, pro-life-activist-turned-government-witness Caroline Davis is testifying against her fellow pro-lifers. Davis participated in both the Mt. Juliet rescue as well as one in Sterling Heights, Michigan, in 2020. She was placed on the stand on Thursday and was scheduled for cross-examination on Friday.
According to The Tennesseean, government attorney Amanda Klopf stated that additional government witnesses will include “a patient who had an appointment at the abortion facility but left because of the protesters, an employee who was ‘trapped inside the building during the incident,’ and a police officer who responded to the scene.”
In their opening statement, government attorneys claimed that they would be able to prove, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that the six defendants blocked abortion facility doors, they conspired extensively to do so prior to the actual event, and even used tactics to prolong the event, including interfacing with police officers.
In the opening statements for the defense, attorneys focused on the completely non-violent nature of the activism and the fact that the defendants worked with and not against responding police officers. One attorney suggested that having many friends with whom one talks to regularly doesn’t constitute a conspiracy. Defense attorney Robert Paris also emphasized that, according to the letter of the law, the government must prove that the defendants either injured, oppressed, threatened, or intimidated a patient or provider in order to find them guilty.
One government witness, Cpl. Lance Schneider of the Mt. Juliet Police, characterized the defendants as “peaceful and not aggressive” in his testimony on Wednesday.
This trial is ongoing, and is set to continue on Monday.
