Elderly homeless woman found not guilty of illegally camping in Mile Square Park

An Orange County Superior Court jury on Monday acquitted a 75-year-old homeless woman on four misdemeanor counts of remaining in Fountain Valley’s Mile Square Park after closing hours.

The trial verdict caps a battle between Nancy Wood, who demanded that she be allowed to sleep in a tent in the park, and Fountain Valley officials determined to keep her out.

Fountain Valley officials were not seeking criminal penalties against Wood. Rather, they wanted a “stay away” order to keep her out of the park, said Alexandra Halfman, an attorney for the city. How the verdict affects the city’s efforts to combat homelessness was unclear.

The city’s long-running dispute with Wood reached a critical point in 2020, when her encampment stood in the path of a park reseeding project, according to police.

Wood’s public defender, Daniel Maher, has accused Fountain Valley officials of pursuing a case of “not-in-my-backyard” against Wood.

Maker had said that at the time of Wood’s arrests, two shelters were available to the county’s homeless population, but none was located in Fountain Valley. The city is not a party to the agreement struck by U.S. District Judge David Carter in 2019 allowing some cities to enforce anti-loitering laws, but only if they have provided adequate shelter space and connect homeless people to services.

Maher has said officers, sometimes up to 10 of them, would surround Wood’s tent at 3 a.m. and then pull her out. Then they would  tear down her encampments, pile her belongings into a dump truck and haul her in handcuffs to the police station, where she would be released.

Maher said the city’s sole help for the homeless is a pamphlet listing shelters where it is difficult to find a bed and phone numbers that nobody ever answers.

Wood remains homeless in Fountain Valley.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

This post first appeared on ocregister.com

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