Like Wow, Man, Have You Ever Really Looked At Your Ordinanc

[O Really]

Well, IF he were held without a hearing, no opportunity for bail (even if it was denied), no trial scheduled within a reasonable time (check if 3-4 months is all that unusual from arrest to trial), denial of legal representation, yada, then the only way that would be legal would be if he were classified a "terrorist" under PATRIOT. None of that happened.

The penalty in DC for possession of firearm without registration is up to 1 year and/ $1,000 fine. We don't know if it was registered, I guess, but since he's not a DC resident, I'd guess no. Penalty for possession by a felon (non violent) is minimum one year, up to ten. I don't know if he had any felony convictions. Penalty for commission of a crime with a firearm goes up substantially. But that would include brandishing, threatening, etc. not requiring somebody actually gets shot. So if he pleads out for something like simple unregistered possession, gets credit for time served, and pays no fine, he'd be doing well. IMNVHO he's not going to do that, and will get convicted of something worse and get more time.

[O Really]

I'm more bothered by the mushrooms than the other charges. I've got a bad feeling the cops brought that with them. Of course, as you mentioned, if you're going to plant evidence, why not plant something serious? On the other hand, he doesn't seem to have gotten the memo that there's a difference in how you get treated if you protest something the government is doing and if you wave a shotgun and protest the government itself and advocate overthrow.

[O Really]

Yeah, looks like all the previous arrests were pretty much part of the job description of a protester. But he's never helped his case very much. In Philly, he essentially jailed himself by refusing to give the judge his address.

[Cannonpointer]

Two things really stand out:

“We were expecting this. We were expecting the government to raid our house,” Darrell Young, Kokesh’s roommate, told WRC-TV

If they knew that they were going to be raided, why on earth would they keep magic 'shrooms in the house?

Who says they did?

[Cannonpointer]

Yeah, looks like all the previous arrests were pretty much part of the job description of a protester. But he's never helped his case very much. In Philly, he essentially jailed himself by refusing to give the judge his address.

Noncooperation is a longstanding staple of nonviolent direct action. Whatever one thinks of the tactic it's not like Kokesh is unusual in using it. I once got jailed overnight and convicted for refusing to show ID. The judge expunged the record when I later discovered that there's no law requiring nondrivers to have or show ID.

The judge was a crook or a hack, then, for finding you guilty in the first place.

But then. the judge was probably playing prosecutor. Was there a prosecutor present, or just the criminal cop who falsely imprisoned you? If there was no prosecutor, then the judge himself was bringing the case, questioning the witnesses, AND passing sentence.

[O Really]

If you're going to poke the bear in the eye, you need a good lawyer in your rucksack.