Earlier, the jury watched a videotape of Barbic, the executive director, confronting Hoye and crisply marking off 8 feet with a tape measure.
"I said, 'Mr. Hoye, maybe you aren't so good at math, but this is 8 feet, and I need you to stay 8 feet from the patients and staff,' " Barbic testified. She said he approached her, and she told him, "You're frightening me. You're scaring me. Please move away from me."
Jurors, according to the prosecutor and the defense attorneys, said the tapes persuaded them that Hoye had indeed broken the law -- ironic, since Hoye had made the tapes to show the escorts harassing him.
Meanwhile, Oakland officials say they are confident the ordinance will stand.
Oakland Supervising Deputy City Atty. Vicki Laden, who helped draft the law, said it was patterned on a Colorado statute that was upheld by the Supreme Court in 2000.
In that case, Hill vs. Colorado, the court reiterated its long-held position that any restrictions on speech must meet a high standard: they must be "content-neutral" and further an important government interest -- in this case, allowing patients unfettered access to medical care.
And so Hoye pursues his potted plant strategy, most recently on June 16. No one has called the cops on him. Yet.
He is trying to comply with the law, he said. "But on the inside, it's tearing me up. The law is unjust, and I have a real frustration about that."
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robin.abcarian@latimes.com
