Charges dropped over White House civil disobedience

As trial was about to start in D.C. Superior Court, the government dropped the charges July 14 against Lt. Dan Choi and ex-Capt. Jim Pietrangelo stemming from civil-disobedience actions in which they handcuffed themselves to the White House fence in March and April.

They had been protesting the military’s Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy that requires gays in the military to stay in the closet.

It is not known why the charges were dropped at the last minute, although the D.C. mayor’s office told MetroWeekly that the D.C. attorney general decided the charges of failure to obey a lawful order were unsustainable given that the men were not actually blocking the sidewalk at the times they allegedly failed to obey orders not to do so. Instead, the two were standing on a ledge that supports the White House fence, and thus were not impeding pedestrian traffic, the mayor’s office said.

According to activist group GetEQUAL, which helped plan the civil disobedience, prosecutors and arresting officers were present in the courtroom and ready for the trial to commence.

In a statement, Pietrangelo theorized that “the government is afraid of having to defend this issue.”

“After three months of discovery and preparation, the government dropped the case because they know it’s an embarrassment,” he said.

One of the men’s attorneys, Mark Goldstone, added, “We were ready to put Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell on trial today, but it was clear the government was embarrassed to defend an indefensible policy.”

By Rex Wockner