HUNTSVILLE, Alabama - Anti-abortion activist Joyce Fecteau testified today that she was not trying to alarm or harass two pro-abortion rights supporters when she sprayed "holy water" in their direction last December.

Fecteau, a 70-something Huntsville grandmother, was arrested and charged with misdemeanor harassment based on complaints from Lisa Cox and Katherine Norlin. Her trial began April 19 in Huntsville Municipal Court and resumed this morning. Judge Sybil Cleveland could rule on Fecteau's guilt or innocence later today.

The spraying incident, which was captured on video, happened outside Alabama Women's Center for Reproductive Alternatives on Dec. 22, 2012. Fecteau has been demonstrating at the Madison Street abortion clinic for several years.

Pro-abortion rights supporters were burning a foul-smelling substance that day, said Fecteau. She testified that she used her squirt bottle of "holy water" to dissipate the smoke from what other witnesses described as dried sage.

Fecteau said she had been warned by her health care provider, a Cullman County herbalist, not to breathe in the smoke.

"They told me it was wiccan smoke; I found that very disturbing," she said.

Dagmar Corvington, an anti-abortion activist who witnessed the incident, said she does not believe Fecteau was trying to spray anyone in the face. Fecteau is a "peaceful person," said Corvington, and it's not in her nature to want to hurt people.

"What I saw Joyce do ... is spray the smoke," said Corvington. "The smoke, it's so heavy. It bothers me, bothers my son, bothers everybody."

Marlise Huell testified that pro-abortion rights supporters were parading the burning substance "up and down, up and down" a section of public sidewalk outside the clinic reserved by anti-abortion demonstrators.

"We were all enveloped in smoke," said Huell.

City Prosecutor Walter Record said the city legal department had approved pro-abortion rights supporters' use of "sage incense" during demonstrations. Record also produced several photographs that he said show Fecteau acting "confrontational" and bumping one of the clinic's volunteer patient escorts.

Rev. James Henderson, an organizer of the anti-abortion demonstrations, said he's known Fecteau for about 20 years and has never seen her harass anyone. "All I've ever seen is free speech," he said.

Fecteau sat for most of the morning with her head bowed, clutching green rosary beads. If convicted, she could be sentenced to six months in jail and fined $500 on each of the two misdemeanor counts.

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