By Tony Gosgnach
TORONTO, September 30, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Canadian pro-life hero Linda Gibbons has just been acquitted by a provincial court judge in Toronto on a charge of obstructing a peace officer and has walked out of court a free woman. Justice Clements rightly ruled that Gibbons's conduct of being peaceful and silent could in no way be interpreted to mean she was making any peace officer's job more difficult when she was arrested outside the Scott "Clinic" abortuary in Toronto earlier this year.
The decision brings into question the whole Crown/police tactic of charging Gibbons over a 14-year period with disobeying a peace officer, when the correct and more appropriate charge should have been disobeying a court order. Clements suggested Gibbons would have been guilty of that charge on the basis of the evidence with which he was presented ... but that charge was not laid.
A charge of disobeying a court order would have given Gibbons the right to a jury trial and the opportunity to challenge the constitutionality of the 14-year-old "temporary" court injunction -- something minions in the attorney-general's office seemingly want at all costs to avoid.
Gibbons has spent a total of over five years in prison for her repeated peaceful witnessing and offering of help to distressed pregnant women outside the Scott abortuary.
More details to follow ...
Canadian Pro-life Hero Linda Gibbons' Trial Commences
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/sep/08091104.html
Pro-Life Heroine Linda Gibbons Sentenced to Only One Additional Day in Prison
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/jul/08072808.html
Canadian Pro-Life Hero Linda Gibbons Celebrates 60th Birthday Behind Bars
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/aug/08082712.html
PRO-LIFE HERO LINDA GIBBONS RELEASED TODAY
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/1999/dec/99121401.html
Linda Gibbons: Arrest History
http://www.lifesitenews.com/gibbons/arrest_hist.html
