Jubilant Terry Readies Next Rally : Handling of Anti-Abortion Group’s Protests Reevaluated

Operation Rescue founder Randall Terry, jubilant over his acquittal on trespassing charges, returned to Los Angeles Thursday to rally his anti-abortion forces, while pro-choice organizations, police, and prosecutors nationwide reassessed how to handle future encounters with Terry’s movement.

Terry traveled from his New York home to hold a victory press conference and meet with Southern California activists, and he appeared almost giddy as he deplaned. The 30-year-old anti-abortion leader said he had heard of the verdict while attending a church meeting.

“We praised the glory of God,” he said, “and all I could think about was the Bible saying, ‘The lord will make the justice of our cause shine like the noonday sun.’ ”

Terry and co-leaders Jeff White, 31; Michael McMonagle, 36; Andrew Eppink, 41, and Donald Bennette, 36, were found not guilty Wednesday on 24 misdemeanor charges stemming from the Easter Week blockade of a Los Angeles women’s clinic. Municipal Judge Richard Paez declared a mistrial on three remaining conspiracy counts after jurors said they could not reach a decision.

Allegations of Police Brutality

After the verdict, some jurors said they were swayed in part by allegations of police brutality made by the activists during the trial. Others said they were opposed to abortion.

Terry said he and his co-defendants were ecstatic that “the jury understood our argument that saving children’s lives is not a crime.”

Pro-choice activists, meanwhile, expressed concern that Operation Rescue will be invigorated. “I am concerned that Operation Rescue will think it has a license to break the law in Los Angeles,” said ACLU attorney Carol Sobel, who testified during the activists’ five-week trial.

Terry, a former used car salesman, said the court decision has “stirred up our troops.” He added that Operation Rescue had nine demonstrations planned in the near future for Southern California, including a demonstration in San Diego this weekend.

“We’ve been banging heads on walls for years in courts,” Terry said, “but the tide is turning. This is tremendous encouragement that our message is getting through.”

Some pro-choice activists believed that the court decision will set back their struggle to battle the activists with arrests, lawsuits and huge court fines.

“These people have found that they can charge police brutality, and it tames the cops,” said Ann Baker, who heads a pro-choice organization called the 80% Majority Campaign. “Practically any time these people don’t get the treatment they want from the cops, they yell police brutality.” Sobel said such allegations might make police hesitant to make arrests during the blockades.

“There is a concern that the police might say, ‘What’s the point of doing arrests.’ ” Sobel said, “because nobody’s going to be convicted anyway. Let’s just let the two sides duke it out.’ ”

In San Diego, where Operation Rescue plans to stage protests this weekend, police spokesman David Cohen said his department does not intend to let emotion keep them from performing their duties. Cohen recalled past protests in which officers were taunted by demonstrators who accused them of allowing murder to take place inside the clinics.

‘Upholding the Law’

“They want to draw us into the issue of abortion,” he said. “We have officers who feel both ways, but when they put on their uniforms, they are upholding the law.”

Cmdr. William Booth, spokesman for Los Angeles Police Chief Daryl F. Gates, said the department has no plans to change its policies or tactics because of the brutality allegations.

“There may have been some misunderstanding of what was done, of what tactics were used out there,” said Booth, referring to the pain compliance holds used by police during the March protest. “But that was the kind of misinterpretation that would be made by people who have never had to make someone come with them. Who have never had to lift someone up who was limp as a dish rag or stiff as a board.”

San Diego police plan to use orcutts, plastic and nylon devices used as a weapon in the martial arts.

“All officers have to do is bring it out of the holster, and the person plays by the rules,” Cohen said. “If the protesters don’t, then they can use them to take a person down into handcuff position.”

Nationally, there have been 25,000 to 35,000 arrests in Operation Rescue’s self-proclaimed “holy war” against abortion, resulting in hundreds of trespassing cases--many of which the anti-abortion forces have lost. They suffered a defeat Wednesday, when two members were found guilty of conspiracy and seven other misdemeanor criminal charges in San Diego Municipal Court.

One of the most important of the recent decisions was a ruling by a Los Angeles federal judge holding 12 Operation Rescue activists in contempt for violating a court order that prohibited them from blocking clinics in California. They were fined $10,000 apiece, a penalty that must be paid only if they violate the standing order again.

539 More Await Trial

In addition to those acquitted Wednesday, 539 more activists await trial on trespassing charges from the March 25 protest in Los Angeles. A spokesman for the Los Angeles city attorney said “all legal remedies are under review.” He would not comment on the prosecution’s strategy or any alternative courtroom tactics they may use in the future.

Legal experts said the lesson in the verdict Wednesday was that the prosecution must understand jurors’ bring extraordinary prejudices to such cases.

“People are so polarized on this right-to-life issue,” said Donald E. Vinson, founder of Litigation Sciences, which provides behavioral science consulting services to trial lawyers. “The values associated with the issue--religion, sexuality, family--are at the core of our humanity.”

Times staff writer Karen Tumulty in New York contributed to this story.