Assistant U.S. Attorney Angela George today faced significant questions about the federal prosecution of 13 people who protested at the White House in 2010 in opposition to “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” The protesters — who sought more action from President Obama to end the ban on gay, lesbian and bisexual service — had been charged by the U.S. Attorney’s Office with a federal regulation prohibiting “interfering with agency functions,” specifically violating a lawful order of the National Park Service.
After two different hearing times today in the E. Barrett Prettyman Federal Courthouse in the District, the possibility of any trial on the charges was put off until September.
U.S. Magistrate Judge John M. Facciola, a former assistant district attorney in Manhattan who was appointed to the bench by President Clinton in 1997, raised concerns about the charges in court this morning, asking the attorneys — Assistant U.S. Attorney Angela George, the prosecutor, and defense attorneys Mark Goldstone and Ann Wilcox — to confer about whether the rarely invoked charges needed to be pursued.
Of the judge’s morning statement, which invoked civil rights-era prosecutions of protesters in questioning the charges brought against former Lt. Dan Choi and 12 others, Goldstone said, “The judge was telegraphing very clearly that he sees the case similiar to how we see this case: as a civil rights exercise, as a First Amendment exercise, as people who non-violently expressed their opposition to a policy which has now been repealed. So, what’s the harm to the government if the case is dismissed, or if the case is handled in such a way that it doesn’t result in a criminal conviction?”
Explaining the ways of doing that to Metro Weekly after the hearing, Goldstone said, “Lots of times demonstrators enter pleas of ‘post and forfeit,’ which is not a criminal conviction even though the charge itself might have been a crime.” He also noted that there is the possibility of “deferred sentencing, in which case, if they are good, the charge will be dismissed.”
After the judge brought the attorneys and defendants back to court a little before 3:30 this afternoon, George told Facciola that, after quick consultation with colleagues and her superiors, the “government is not prepared to accept or reject the court’s” recommendation to find a way to avoid the trial on the federal regulation violation charge.
Of possible hearing dates when the judge would be out of the country, Facciola told the attorneys, “You better get a date for me because I’m going to keep this case.”
After Goldstone presented possibilities for avoiding a conviction, the judge told the prosecutor, “I would urge you to give these proposals serious consideration.”
The parties agreed to hold a status conference with the court and the attorneys at 10 a.m. May 17 to discuss those proposals. A date of Sept. 19 was set for the defendants to enter a plea or begin trial.
Because the 13 had not been processed in the federal system because their initial arrests were handled by local authorities, the 12 defendants in attendance — Choi; Petty Officer Autumn Sandeen (Ret.); Cpl. Evelyn Thomas; Cadet Mara Boyd; Robin McGehee, co-founder and director of Get Equal; Dan Fotou, eastern regional field director for Get Equal; former U.S. Army Staff Sergeant Miriam Ben-Shalom; former U.S. Marine Corps Sergeant Justin Elzie; U.S. Army veteran Rob Smith; Father Geoff Farrow; Scott Wooledge; and Michael Bedwell — were processed by the U.S. Marshals Office following the hearing.
The final defendant, former U.S. Army Arabic Linguist Ian Finkenbinder, was not present at today’s hearing.
Goldstone, after the hearing, explained how he saw what was happening, telling Metro Weekly, “We’re trying to figure out an acceptable resolution to the case that will satisfy our clients, who do not want a conviction for locking themselves up to the White House fence. That would be a successful resolution.”
Of the prosecution’s action to charge under the federal regulation, Wilcox told reporters, “We think it’s pretty clear that they’re just kind of digging in their heels, and they just don’t want to allow people to get a break on this particular go-round — on this conviction.”
[Photo: Front row, from left: Thomas, McGehee, Sandeen, Wooledge, Wilcox (standing). Back row, from left: Fotou, Elzie, Boyd, Bedwell, Goldstone, Farrow, Ben-Shalom. (Photo courtesy Get Equal.)]
By John Riley on March 7, 2024 @JRileyMW
Ruby Corado, the founder and former head of Casa Ruby, a Washington, D.C.-based LGBTQ and immigrant services and emergency shelter, has been arrested and charged with fraud and money laundering for alleged misuse of COVID-19 relief funds.
The 53-year-old Corado has been accused of defrauding the Paycheck Protection and Economic Injury Disaster Loan programs by diverting funds intended to benefit Casa Ruby's clients -- including homeless LGBTQ youth, LGBTQ immigrants, and current and former sex workers -- into her personal bank account.
According to The Washington Post, federal prosecutors allege Corado took at least $150,000 of the $1.3 million that Casa Ruby had received in emergency relief funds aimed at assisting small business owners and nonprofits in navigating difficult financial times during COVID-related shutdowns.
By John Riley on March 8, 2024 @JRileyMW
Westboro Baptist Church, a radical right-wing organization known for its anti-gay vitriol, picketed outside the high school once attended by Nex Benedict, a nonbinary 16-year-old who died the day after an altercation in the school's bathroom.
But a pro-LGBTQ alliance of hundreds of people showed up to counter-protest, outnumbering the church members and expressing support for the students at Owasso High School in Owasso, Oklahoma.
The Topeka, Kansas-based Westboro, which has been designated a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center, announced earlier this week that it intended to hold two "public preaching" events in Owasso on Wednesday, March 6 -- one outside the school board headquarters, and the other outside Owasso High.
By Randy Shulman on March 12, 2024 @RandyShulman
Editor's Note: This in-depth interview with David Mixner, who passed away on Monday, March 11, 2024, at the age of 77, originally appeared in the issue of July 29, 2004. Photography by Todd Franson.
"You want a soundbite?"
David Mixner grins.
"I'll give you a soundbite. I'm a man who's devoted forty years of his life -- sometimes at great validation and sometimes at great pain -- to the struggle for freedom and human rights.
"You know, when I was a child growing up," he continues, "we didn't have television, but we got Life magazine. And it opened the outside world to us. As a kid I said, 'I want to live the history of my times. I want to witness it.' And then I got to a second level where I said, 'God, if I could just meet and shake the hands of the people making the history of my times, I'd be happy.' And then I said to myself, 'If I could just be a tiny footnote in the history of my times.'
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