GetEqual White House Six stand before a judge, new trial for Choi, Pietrangelo

After chaining themselves to the White House fence on Tuesday morning to protest slow movement on “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” the GetEqual White House Six appeared in court for their hearings this morning. Veterans Autumn Sandeen, Larry Whitt, Mara Boyd, and Evelyn Thomas all agreed to “post and forfeit” to avoid pleading guilty and were released after paying a $100 fee each.

Lt. Dan Choi and Cpt. Jim Pietrangel–already awaiting a trial for their “not-guilty” plea stemming from the mid-March White House action where they chained themselves to the White House fence the first time–have had their trials for both counts now rescheduled for July 14.

According to Chris Geidner from the Washington DC Metro Weekly:

”I remember these two gentlemen,” D.C. Superior Court Magistrate Judge Richard Ringell said. ”Mr Choi, he saluted me. It’s the only time I’ve been saluted.”

The judge had issued a “stay-away” order to the new four in effect until their fine was paid (which GetEqual took care of right away) barring them from nearing the White House grounds. However, when the judge prepared to issue a similar order to Choi and Pietrangelo, their lawyers objected, and after meeting with the prosecutors, a less constraining “stay-away” order was accepted, that included exceptions if Lt. Choi or Capt. Pietrangelo were invited to the White House.

In related content, Autostraddle–which is really the lesbian equivalent to the Feast of Fun blog–asks “Is There a ‘Right Way’ to Be an Activist?”

(h/t the spunky Law Dork, Mr. Chris Geidner via Metro Weekly)

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 22nd, 2010 at 7:32 am and is filed under Politics & Activism. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.