Abortion foe faces jail

Foti, 75, has been a regular fixture at the Palm Avenue clinic, where abortions are performed, since at least 2001. The stipulated mutual injunction Foti agreed to in 2004 prevents the Belmont resident from parking his truck, which has images of aborted fetuses, too close to the clinic. He also agreed not to demonstrate with more than three anti-abortion signs and to keep at least 15 feet away from the clinic while protesting. The agreement also prevents him from acting in concert with others while demonstrating.

Life Legal Defense Foundation attorney Katie Short is flying up from Ventura County in Southern California to represent Foti at this morning’s hearing.

Foti faces 105 days in jail, Short said.

Planned Parenthood hired a private investigator to monitor Foti and will present video evidence at this morning’s hearing, Short said.

Short has seen the evidence and says it is not enough to jail her client. Life Legal Defense is a pro-life advocacy legal group based in Napa County.

But Beth Parker, the lawyer who represents Planned Parenthood in the Bay Area, believes Foti has been violating the injunction for a long time.

Foti is the area’s most egregious demonstrator, Parker said.

"He has way more signs than he is supposed to and he is actively encouraging others to come,” Parker said. "Since he won’t go away, we’ve tried to accommodate him but he has created problems the injunction was designed to protect against.”

The courts have tried to balance the anti-abortionist’s First Amendment rights with a patient’s constitutional right to reproductive health care without being unduly harassed, Parker said.

"That is why the 15-foot exclusionary zones were created,” Parker said.

Although Foti has repeatedly beaten back attempts to silence him for more than a decade, he admitted he was nervous about this morning’s hearing in San Mateo County Superior Court in Redwood City even though his right to free speech is protected under the First Amendment.

"I’m confident the evidence will vindicate him,” Short said. "He would not violate the injunction. I believe it is not about Ross.”

There have been a number of demonstrators from a group called 40 Days for Life that have been demonstrating at the Planned Parenthood in San Mateo that are unrelated to Foti, Short said. Since these demonstrators are not named specifically in the same injunction Foti is, they are allowed to legally be within 15 feet of the clinic.

"They are trying to present evidence that Foti and these demonstrators are somehow linked,” Short said. "But it is a coincidence. It is a nationwide movement that has brought out thousands of people all over the country.”

Foti dealt with a similar situation in 2003 when demonstrators from Operation Rescue and Youth for America protested at the San Mateo clinic.

The devout Catholic was most recently arrested for trespassing after an encounter with a priest at St. Matthew’s Church in late 2007.

Foti’s truck is covered with large, graphic images of dead fetuses that he routinely parked near the church during early-morning mass when school was in session. The images upset parents who drove their children past the truck on the way to school when Foti attended mass. Priest Anthony McGuire placed Foti under house arrest after parking his truck on Notre Dame Avenue, a small, one-way street north of the church that parents are required to use in the mornings as part of an agreement with neighbors on the surrounding streets.

The San Mateo County District Attorney’s Office dropped the misdemeanor charges against Foti in early 2008, however.

His troubles with the law go back more than a decade as he used to demonstrate at a Planned Parenthood clinic on Middlefield Road in Menlo Park. Menlo Park drafted a strict sign ordinance in 1996 Foti contended was put in place to silence him.

Once cited for violating the sign law, Foti filed his own lawsuit.

The Life Legal Defense Foundation knocked down Menlo Park’s city law on behalf of Foti in 1999 and was awarded $65,000 in court costs and fees the city was forced to pay.

Foti spent a night in jail in 2003 and faced domestic violence charges for an incident involving his wife that required her to get 28 stitches. The District Attorney’s Office, however, did not file charges against Foti in that case.

Foti’s hearing is on the Master Calendar at Superior Court today in Redwood City. No judge has been assigned and there is no assurance the issue will be resolved today.

Bill Silverfarb can be reached by e-mail: silverfarb@smdailyjournal.com or by phone: (650) 344-5200 ext. 106.