LOGAN — A judge found a Logan woman guilty of trespassing at a bus stop where she told a woman with six children to try birth control.
Logan Municipal Court Judge Cheryl Russell Friday ruled that 77-year-old Laura Stevens was guilty of trespassing. The judge rejected Stevens' contention that her actions were protected by the First Amendment.
"The bottom line is you were told not to go to the Transit Center, and you did," Russell said. "It's that simple."
Russell fined Stevens $82, which will be waived if Stevens performs 14 hours of community service. Stevens, who said she would work for Planned Parenthood, cheered when she was sentenced.
"All I have to do is work with Planned Parenthood," she said after the trial.
Planned Parenthood provides birth-control counseling.
Stevens said she was not sure whether she would appeal.
"I will if I can," she said. "I need to find out if I can."
Stevens, a retired medical secretary who had once worked as an administrative assistant in district court, represented herself at the trial and frequently objected to the prosecutor's questioning of witnesses.
She also flamboyantly bowed or waved her hands whenever a witness identified her as the woman who confronted the mother of six at the Cache Valley Transit Center in Logan.
The prosecutor, in turn, often objected to her questions and statements, and the judge repeatedly instructed her on court procedures and explained to her what types of questions she could ask.
She was banned from the bus system and bus system property in June because the woman with the children said she felt bullied. Stevens was arrested and charged a few days later when she returned to the bus center.
E-mail: mikewennergren@yahoo.com