El Cajon
A lawyer representing anti-abortion demonstrators was cited Friday in El Cajon Municipal Court for nine counts of contempt of court and ordered to spend 45 days in jail, court records showed.
Cyrus Zal also was ordered to pay a $4,500 fine, or $500 on each of the nine counts, according to the records. Judge Larrie R. Brainard, however, delayed imposing the sentence until trial, in which Zal is representing seven anti-abortion activists, ends, expected to be in about two weeks.
Brainard cited Zal after the lawyer repeatedly ignored the judge’s warnings not to bring the abortion issue into the trial. Zal’s clients are charged with misdemeanor trespassing.
The seven activists are among 60 demonstrators arrested Oct. 21 during a protest at a La Mesa medical clinic.
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