Three reproductive rights activists who were charged last month for their actions during a January protest at the Respect Life Mass at St. Joseph Cathedral Downtown were arraigned on Friday.
The misdemeanor charges filed Feb. 18 in Franklin County Municipal Court against Jordyn Close, 24; Michelle M. Davis, 39; and Mason Hickman, 24 include disorderly conduct and criminal trespass. All pleaded not guilty on Friday morning and are scheduled for pretrial hearings in March and April.
Anne Morrice, 35, who faces these misdemeanors. as well as a charge for criminal damage, will be arraigned on March 19.
The four charged were part of a group of eight activists who stormed into the cathedral during its morning Mass on Jan. 22. At the time, no arrests were made, said George Jones, spokesman for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Columbus.
About eight reproductive rights activists stormed into St. Joseph Cathedral Downtown on Friday morning during its Respect Life Mass.
The Mass was being presided over by Catholic Diocese of Columbus Bishop Robert Brennan at an annual event hosted by the diocese on the anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the U.S. Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion in the United States.
Protesters were escorted out by police and diocese officials after they marched through the sanctuary shouting about abortion rights being under attack and holding signs such as fund abortion not cops.
They also chanted two, four, six, eight, this church teaches hate. Columbus police had no details on any arrests on Saturday.