First protest: Choi and Pietrangelo
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November, 2010: The White House 13
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Dan Choi, who along with our own
Clarknt67 and 11 others chained himself to the White House fence ten months ago to protest
Don't Ask, Don't Tell,
will be put on trial this coming Monday, August 29th.
Former Army Lt. Dan Choi is scheduled to stand trial in federal court in D.C. on Aug. 29 for his November 2010 arrest for handcuffing himself to the White House fence in protest of the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" law.
On September 9th, 2010, Federal Judge Virginia Phillips ruled that Don't Ask, Don't Tell was unconstitutional. On October 12th, Judge Phillips ordered the government to cease and desist all actions related to the enforcement of that law. That order was later stayed by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, then unstayed, then partially re-stayed. A hearing before the Ninth Circuit on the still unresolved constitutional issues is scheduled for September 1, 2011.
Choi at Leonard Maltovich's grave
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Choi receiving ring back from Harry Reid
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In an amazing moment at Netroots Nation, 2010, Dan Choi stood face to face with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid who promised to give Dan his West Point ring back if and when DADT had been repealed. That repeal was passed by Congress in December of 2010 and memorialized as Reid returned the ring in the picture above. Repeal will finally take effect in less than a month, on September 20th, 2011.
Choi's companions on the White House fence accepted a deal from prosecutors giving them six months probation after which their arrest record would be expunged. But Dan would have no part of it.
Prosecutors in the past have filed the same charge of failure to obey a police order to disperse against protesters at the White House. But they filed the charge under a D.C. municipal ordinance, which doesn't carry a jail sentence and doesn't result in a permanent criminal record, the lawyers said.
Perhaps he believes that to accept of plea bargain from the Government over what many consider a bogus and unprecendented charge -- for protesting an unconstitutional law which is still in effect in part -- would be an admission that DADT was in some way justified.
I don't know what his thoughts are as he faces a potential jail sentence. But here's to his courage, and the courage of his compatriots.
ltdanchoi Dan Choi
We intend to admit this video as evidence on Monday. youtube.com/watch?v=p1Tooc… @WashingtonBlade
And here is to hoping that his defense in court is as stirring and inspiring as his actions were in the protests that led him to his rendezvous with a Federal Court.
Update: More on Choi's defense and his lawyers.
Choi, who goes on trial Monday in Washington, D.C., didn’t follow the officers’ orders because he couldn’t, according to his lawyer, Norm Kent of Fort Lauderdale.
“One of the defenses I intend to invoke is impossibility,” said Kent, 61, who also publishes South Florida Gay News. “Dan didn’t have the key, so how could he comply to the order to leave if he was chained to the fence?”
Video of the Nov. 15 protest was posted on YouTube. “The demonstrators chanted in protest of the U.S. military’s ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ policy. Officers gave three verbal warnings to the defendants that they were in violation of federal regulations and needed to leave the area,” Kent said.
Police made a big boo-boo in the way they handled Choi’s arrest, he said.
“They should have unbolted him first, then asked him to leave,” Kent said, adding that the protesters were “handcuffed with their hands behind their backs.”
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Choi has hired four lawyers to defend him, including Kent, 61, a radio talk-show host also known for fighting to decriminalize marijuana possession.
“Norm Kent is on my team because he is a suit of armor for the protection of the First Amendment in America,” Choi, 30, told The Miami Herald via a Facebook message.
Other attorneys on the case: Christopher Lynn, Yetta Kurland and Robert Feldman.
GSFLA