Orange County Superior Court Judge Ragnar R....
Orange County Superior Court Judge Ragnar R. Engebretsen granted an appeal allowing former Santa Ana police chief Edward Joseph Allen to wear an anti-abortion lapel pin at his trial on charges of trespassing at a Cypress family planning clinic in March, 1984. West Orange County Municipal Judge Kathleen O’Leary previously banned anyone, including defendants, from wearing any symbol indicating a political stand on abortion at the beginning of the trial Wednesday. Allen’s attorney, Robert Sassone, said his client refused to remove the half-inch pin from his lapel because it would violate his First Amendment rights of free speech and free expression.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
