photo from Larissa Mueller, Sentinel file ~~ Attorney Ed Frey parks his truck with portable toilet in tow in... 
SANTA CRUZ - Activist attorney Ed Frey was ordered Tuesday to report to County Jail on Aug. 8 to begin serving a six-month sentence on his conviction for illegal lodging, after the Sixth District Court of Appeals in San Jose declined to review his conviction.

Judge Robert Moody, a retired Monterey County judge, made the ruling while filling in for Judge John Gallagher.

In May, Frey and four others were convicted by a jury on misdemeanor charges of illegal lodging. The group was among several dozens involved in the "Peace Camp" protest on the courthouse steps that began July 4, 2010. Protestors later moved to Santa Cruz City Hall, where they stayed until October.

Many participants were warned, cited and arrested, and judges allowed plea bargains or resolved their cases in other ways, prosecutors said.

But Frey has been seeking to challenge the law on constitutional grounds, saying people have the right to sleep outside and that denying homeless people that right amounts to criminalizing poverty. He has also argued that "lodging" is too vague a description of the illegal behavior.

Tuesday, he vowed to continue the challenge by appealing to the California Supreme Court. He said he is trying to obtain Friend of the Court briefs from groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union.

He said he could complete his jail sentence in three months and hopes to qualify for work furlough.

Follow Sentinel reporter Cathy Kelly on Twitter @cathykelly9

Linda's Hearth note: the visiting Judge scolded attorney Frey, saying Ed's wasting the Court's resources, so he didn't want to consider anything new in this case. 

Meanwhile, I talked with Gary Johnson a few days back, and he shared some hopes about the appeal Ed Frey is collaborating on. Courtroom personnel behave like we have, somehow, taken advantage of them. I find an inherent bigotry at 701 Ocean Street, Santa Cruz, creating a kind of selective blindness. Gary Johnson, attorney Ed Frey, and I, do not believe that these little 'sweep' laws used to herd homeless people "forward" in their march to Nowhere can be  legitimately used to step around or supercede the First Amendment of the US of A Constitution. 

Sooner or later, a greater standard of justice that does not reinforce poverty-causing social policies, will be returedn to our Nation. I'm working for sooner, care to join us in this struggle?