Following an April 16 hearing, San Mateo Superior Court Judge Elizabeth Lee found longtime pro-life advocate Ross Foti not guilty of 21 counts of contempt, handing a defeat to Planned Parenthood Golden Gate, which for years has been trying to banish sidewalk counselors from in front of its San Mateo facility, Life Legal Defense Foundation reports.

"At Mr. Foti's arraignment in January, the court asked whether the parties had attempted to resolve the matter short of going to trial," said the Foundation in a statement after the hearing. "Planned Parenthood's attorney responded that it was 'always open to discussing' the issues with Mr. Foti. However, when Mr. Foti's attorneys, LLDF Legal Director Katie Short and volunteer attorney Michael Millen, then approached PP about possible resolutions, PP responded with a list of demands that included Mr. Foti agreeing to further restrictions on his free speech activity, paying substantial attorney fees amounting to tens of thousands of dollars, and agreeing to pay all costs and fees associated with any further contempt actions PP chose to bring, as well as for any future 'violations.' With 'discussion' out of the way, the parties then went to trial."

More than five years ago, Foti entered into a mutually binding injunction with Planned Parenthood Golden Gate in an attempt to put an end to years of legal wrangling over his rights at the clinic, according to LLDF. Mr. Foti agreed to stay 15 feet from clinic property and to limit the number of his signs on the sidewalk in exchange for Planned Parenthood's agreement that its 'escorts' would not block him or drown out his words.

Despite the injunction, said LLDF, Foti continued to appear several times a week at the clinic in order to picket, pray, and reach out to abortion-bound women. In addition, over the years, other pro-lifers, including some 40 Days for Life participants, came to pray and counsel on the public sidewalk in front of the clinic.

Following a trial in San Mateo Superior Court on February 4 and 5, Judge Lee tentatively ruled that Planned Parenthood had failed to prove Foti had violated the injunction, but scheduled an additional hearing for April 16.

"The court noted that most of the alleged contemptuous conduct charged was in fact a matter of disputed interpretation of the terms of the injunction," LLDF said in a statement following the April 16 hearing. "In other cases, the evidence was simply insufficient to prove PP's case, as where PP claimed that Mr. Foti having occasional conversations with other demonstrators amounted to him 'enlisting' and 'acting in concert' with them to violate the injunction. PP also failed to prove where its own property line was, despite the fact the one of the provisions Mr. Foti allegedly violated involved measuring 15 feet from the property line."

At the hearing, Planned Parenthood "pressed the same arguments it had made at trial that Mr. Foti was flagrantly violating the injunction and was acting as a 'leader' whose 'followers' and 'co-protesters' were violating the injunction when they prayed in front of the clinic," said the LLDF statement. Judge Lee, said LLDF, "was not persuaded."

"While pleased with the victory, Mr. Foti and his attorneys are not letting down their guard," said the LLDF statement.

"Unfortunately, we probably have not heard the last from Planned Parenthood on this," said Short. "They appear convinced that they own the public sidewalk in front of the abortion clinic, morally if not legally. I would be surprised if they don't try some other legal maneuver to curtail the ability of pro-life counselors to reach the women entering their clinic."

Judge Lee was appointed to the bench by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2005.