Abortion Clinic Trespass Case : Former Police Chief Allen Begins 120-Day Jail Term

Former Santa Ana Police Chief Edward J. Allen was taken into custody Friday to serve a 120-day sentence at the Orange County Jail for trespassing at an abortion clinic.

Allen, 78, Santa Ana’s police chief from 1955 to 1972, could have avoided the sentence if he had promised not to trespass at abortion clinics again.

Allen and co-defendant Ralph A. Buglione, 64, of Garden Grove failed in their attempt Friday to get a Superior Court judge to stay the sentence imposed by West Municipal Judge Kathleen E. O’Leary.

O’Leary ordered the two into custody after agreeing with the district attorney’s office that they had exhausted all of their appeals in the 2-year-old case.

120 Days for Allen

She imposed the original sentence she had set on April 15, 1985: 120 days for Allen and 90 days for Buglione. The two had been jailed that day but were immediately released after filing an appeal notice.

O’Leary had offered both of them a chance to stay out of jail at that first sentencing hearing. All they had to do was agree to terms of probation, which included not trespassing at abortion clinics. Allen said then that it violated his right to protest, and Buglione agreed.

O’Leary made the same offer this time, but the attorney for the two said their positions were the same.

Their attorney, Robert L. Sassone of Santa Ana, asked O’Leary to stay her order until 6 p.m. to give him time to ask Superior Court Judge William W. Thomson to review the case. O’Leary refused and ordered the two into custody.

Thomson later refused Sassone’s request that the case be reconsidered.

Arrested for Trespassing

Allen and Buglione had been arrested on March 28, 1984, for trespassing while they were picketing at the Cypress Family Planning Assn. Medical Group. More than 100 people participated in the demonstration, but only Allen and Buglione went inside the building.

While awaiting the appeals process two months ago, Allen said in a telephone interview that he had no intention of curtailing his anti-abortion activities.

“That’s like asking me to turn my back on someone committing murder,” Allen said then. “Because that’s what abortion is; it’s murder.”

Not Bound by 1973 Decision

At his sentencing hearing last year, Allen told Judge O’Leary that he did not recognize the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion.

“I am not bound by a law which is not consistent with the laws of God and the Declaration of Independence,” Allen said then.

Sassone complained on Friday that O’Leary’s sentences for the two were extremely harsh considering that the probation report recommended only a $25 fine. But prosecutors have countered that it was Allen’s and Buglione’s decision not to agree to probation terms that would have permitted them to walk out free.