Pro-Life News

Abortion Protesters' Convictions Dropped

Two pro-lifers were falsely convicted of extortion.

The 1995 federal convictions of two Central New York anti-abortion protesters were overturned Monday as a result of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in an unrelated case.

The extortion convictions of John Arena and Michelle Wentworth were vacated by U.S. District Judge Howard Munson after the federal government agreed to their lawyer's request that the convictions be overturned.

"I served 900 days in prison for a crime I didn't commit," Wentworth said. She said she had to sell her $88,000 home in Auburn to pay start paying off the fine that was imposed against her. She said the case caused her marriage to fall apart after 20 years.

A federal jury convicted Arena and Wentworth in December 1995 of extortion for conspiring to spill butyric acid at Planned Parenthood in Syracuse and at the offices of Dr. Jack Yoffa in East Syracuse in 1994. Arena admitted he paid Wentworth's daughter $100 to dump the acid at each facility. Munson sentenced Arena to 31/2 years in prison in 1997 and Wentworth to three years in prison. They've finished serving those sentences.

Munson ordered Arena and Wentworth to pay $52,062 in restitution to Planned Parenthood and Yoffa.

The Supreme Court, in an unrelated anti-abortion case, last year redefined extortion. The crime had to involve the obtaining of property - not merely taking away one's right to run a business. That's what Arena and Wentworth were convicted of in federal court.

Federal prosecutors in Syracuse agreed to drop the extortion convictions and penalties against Arena and Wentworth because the Supreme Court ruling resulted in a new extortion law, Executive Assistant U.S. Attorney John Duncan said.

"We did not oppose it because the law has changed," Duncan said.

Wentworth, 51, who still lives in Auburn, said she and Arena plan to sue for malicious prosecution and wrongful imprisonment. They'll also sue to recover more than $11,000 they've paid toward the fine, she said.

Under Munson's order, Arena, 82, of Rome, will be repaid $1,300 of the $4,100 he's paid in fines. Wentworth will get back $1,200 of the $10,100 she paid. The money they'll get back is the amount that's on deposit in the federal court clerk's office and had not yet been forwarded to the victims or their insurance companies. Arena and Wentworth could sue to try to get the remaining amount back.

"They had no right to release it," Wentworth said. "I want to know who was responsible for releasing it, and I want my money back."

The federal case followed criminal mischief convictions in state court against Arena and Wentworth. They were sentenced to probation and community service but no jail time for those convictions.

Wentworth blamed Onondaga County District Attorney William Fitzpatrick for pushing the case with federal prosecutors because he wasn't satisfied with their state sentences.

"I had an $88,000 home," she said. "I had a wonderful husband and a happy family. I was ripped from my children when they were 2 and 3, when they needed me most. None of this would've happened if it hadn't been for Bill Fitzpatrick."

Fitzpatrick could not be reached for comment.

Posted by Editor at August 10, 2004 05:01 AM