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

[Cowboy]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/act ... tid=pm_pop

Gun-rights activist Adam Kokesh charged with possessing hallucinogenic mushrooms

Trishula Patel
Wednesday, July 10, 2013

Police searched the Northern Virginia home of activist Adam Kokesh Tuesday evening and took him into custody on for allegedly being in possession of hallucinogenic mushroom while also having a gun, authorities said.

Kokesh, a former Marine, was held overnight at the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center, charged with possession of schedule I or II drugs while in possession of a firearm, said Lt. Steve Elbert, a spokesman for the Fairfax County Sheriff’s Office.


Kokesh refused to be fingerprinted or arraigned, or to speak with court officials on Wednesday morning, said Nancy Lake, Clerk of the Fairfax County General District Court.

He is now scheduled to be arraigned on Thursday morning. A preliminary hearing was scheduled for Oct. 2.

“We were expecting this. We were expecting the government to raid our house,” Darrell Young, Kokesh’s roommate, told WRC-TV (Channel 4).

U.S. Park Police Lt. Pamela Smith said her agency executed a search warrant at Kokesh’s home in Herndon about 7:45 p.m. Tuesday, looking for a weapon. The park police are the federal agency responsible for policing Freedom Plaza, the concrete park a few blocks from the White House where — in a video posted to YouTube on July 4 — Kokesh appears to load a shotgun in violation of D.C. gun laws.

Smith said she did not know if the YouTube video was the reason for the search warrant. Carrying a loaded weapon, concealed or unconcealed, is against the law in the District. The possession of a firearm not registered in the District carries a penalty up to a year in prison.

“We will not be silent. We will not obey,” Kokesh says in the video. “We will not allow our government to destroy our humanity. We are the final American Revolution. See you next Independence Day.”

According to a news release posted on Kokesh’s Web site, police in cars and helicopters approached Kokesh’s house in Herndon, a suburb 25 miles west of Washington, about 7:45 p.m. Tuesday and staged an “armed invasion.” The house is in the 1500 block of Snow Flake Court.

“Numerous police vehicles, including a light armored vehicle and two low-flying helicopters barricaded Adam’s street,” the news release says. “More than 20 armored SWAT team members surrounded the house, as well as a number of detectives, and plainclothes officers.”

The release says police used a battering ram to knock in the front door and detonated a flash grenade in the foyer, then ransacked the house in a five-hour search while handcuffing Kokesh and detaining others who were in the house in a separate room. Those details could not be independently confirmed.

Herndon police assisted in the search, a communications technician from the department said. But she declined to provide details.

Charging documents filed in court Wednesday morning said Kokesh was charged with possession of hallucinogenic mushrooms, a Schedule I narcotic, while possessing a firearm. Possession of Schedule I or II drugs is a felony in Virginia, punishable by up to 10 years in prison and a maximum $2,500 fine. If convicted of possession of the drugs while also in possession of a firearm, Kokesh would face an additional minimum of two years in prison.

Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney Ray Morrogh said prosecutors could potentially obtain a court order compelling Kokesh to be arraigned if he continues to be uncooperative with authorities.

Kokesh, an Iraq war veteran and Internet talk show, host unveiled plans in early May to lead an armed “Open Carry March” into the District on July 4. He described the proposed event, in which he said participants would carry loaded guns across the Memorial Bridge from Arlington into Washington, as an act of civil disobedience against “tyranny.”

But the march was canceled after police said they would enforce D.C.’s strict gun laws, which prohibit the carrying of loaded weapons.

In six years of headline-grabbing activism, Kokesh has embraced causes including peace in Iraq, free speech in the United States and the unsuccessful 2012 presidential candidacy of Ron Paul. He has invoked Mahatma Gandhi and the First Amendment, and he’s used both dancing and loaded weapons to make his political points.

“We will continue to spread the message of liberty, self ownership, and the non-aggression principle regardless of the government’s relentless attacks on our operation,” a statement posted on Kokesh’s Web site on Wednesday morning said.

“We will continue to combat its desperate attempts to crush a worldwide, revolutionary shift in the people’s understanding of the state’s illegitimacy — after all, good ideas don’t require force.”

In 2007, Kokesh was arrested at the Hart Senate Office Building wearing a T-shirt that read, “Iraq veterans against the war.” He was arrested again in 2011 when he led a group dance party at the Jefferson Memorial. He has gotten into trouble for protesting in a Marine uniform and for taking a souvenir gun home from the battlefield.

[Cowboy]

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?

“We will continue to spread the message of liberty, self ownership, and the non-aggression principle regardless of the government’s relentless attacks on our operation,” a statement posted on Kokesh’s Web site on Wednesday morning said.

“We will continue to combat its desperate attempts to crush a worldwide, revolutionary shift in the people’s understanding of the state’s illegitimacy — after all, good ideas don’t require force.”

If he believes in a "non-aggression principle" and that "good ideas don’t require force", why would he take a loaded gun to demonstrations?

That boy is a few grams short of an ounce.

[O Really]

Video ones self violating and encouraging others to violate firearms laws seems to be good reason to "expect(ing) this."
On the other hand, maybe it wasn't really their mushroom?

[O Really]

I oppose arrests for mushrooms. That said, as y'all point out, he invited the bust while being clearly too stupid to allow to be running around armed.

Yeah, I oppose arrests for mushrooms, too, but I do hope these were really theirs. If the mushrooms just happened to come in while all the flash-banging was going on and the cops get caught at it, this guy will have a righteous field day at the expense of all thing governmental.

[Dryer Vent]

Anyone who lives on Snow Flake Lane should expect a raid now and then just on general principles.

[O Really]

My guess is that any planted drugs would have been ones with a worse rep than mushrooms - meth, crack, heroin, PCP, etc. - maybe an illegal gun, too.

Yeah, but if they're trying to paint the guy as crazy, using something psychedelic is going to help do that - especially with stories of people doing crazy things on shrooms - like tearing off their own dick...
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/weird-news ... gh-1999526

[Cowboy]

Think of it as a form of birth control.

[Cowboy]

Anyone who lives on Snow Flake Lane should expect a raid now and then just on general principles.

Now we know why it's called "Snow" Flake Lane.
Is there a Blow Boulevard near by?

[O Really]

Maybe he should remember what happened to the last guy whose name started in "K" and ended in "esh" when he stood on his turret and taunted the ATF.

[neoplacebo]

Anyone who lives on Snow Flake Lane should expect a raid now and then just on general principles.

I agree. I also think it's wrong to be arrested for mushrooms, especially on Snow Flake Lane. Gee. This guy should have moved to some place like High Caliber Avenue long before this incident happened.

[Cowboy]

Or Lock and Load Cr.

[neoplacebo]

Probably a cul de sac, too.

[Cowboy]

A big cul de sac.

[O Really]

...he invited the bust...

After further thought . . . Koresh is a well known, long time nonviolent libertarian protestor - Iraq War, Jefferson Memorial dance-in, etc. What in the world justifies such a massive SWAT raid when there's no way to prove from a YT video that the shotgun or the shells were real? Just because I have different views on the 2nd Amendment doesn't mean that I want the 1st Amendment squashed.

I think it's likely the SWAT show was for effect. But I also think it is reasonable to believe that a guy who has a wide audience and rounds up people to intentionally carry loaded weapons into DC might very likely have actually done it himself. If he had gotten caught carrying a plastic toy and fishing lure shells he would have lost all credibility totally. First Amendment gives him the right to protest and to do something illegal as part of that protest, but it doesn't protect him from the penalty of the actual illegality.

[O Really]

If he had gotten caught carrying a plastic toy and fishing lure shells he would have lost all credibility totally.

That might be a stretch. Why would people that agree with him hold it against him if he was just making a symbolic point?

I'm pretty sure he was encouraging real people to carry real guns with real ammunition. I don't think they would have considered it just a "symbolic point."

Besides, Second Amendment issues aside, I think most would agree that it changes to tone of a peaceful or "non-violent" protest when the non-violent protester is carrying a shotgun.

[O Really]

Your thoughts on the rest of my post? Did Koresh do anything that warranted the outrageous NPS response?

Not that I know of, other than being a certifiable nutcase with at least one gun. I did say I thought the SWAT act was a bit over the top. On the other hand, certifiable nutcases with at least one gun have created a lot of havoc lately, so maybe the cops could be excused for being a bit spooked at the idea of raiding his lair. At least they didn't shoot him for holding a beer can. And it wasn't like he was the most cooperative captive anyway. Maybe if they'd sent Barney he would have fired on them. Who knows?

[O Really]

So, all police actions are legit because of a "Maybe" that's contradicted by the target's history of completely nonviolent resistance?

I wouldn't say so. But I wasn't there, don't know what if any other information they had, or why they went in with tanks. Maybe they just wanted an excuse to play with their toys. Maybe they wanted to make sure they got press coverage. Who knows? I wouldn't have wanted to be the Chief who sent Barney over to serve a warrant and ended up with a dead Barney on the stoop, though.

[neoplacebo]

Cops like to do this shit; if you're being pulled over for some traffic violation, I bet you the farm that the cop wishes you would run, not stop. It makes for excitement, along with the assurance of authority. At the point you make the decision to run, that's when the backup comes into play. Every cop from every agency in the area will rush to join the excitement. This is just another example of that paradigm; it was just planned in advance. That's all. And I would also bet the farm that this type of stuff is mostly the result of the massive amounts of money given to law enforcement since September 2001. You bet'cha.

[O Really]

Might you be a bit guilty of posting articles with facts slightly skewed? Quote "...Kokesh has been in jail for 114 days (92 of which he was held by the feds) with no bond, no bail, and no trial. 57 of those days were in solitary confinement." Sort of. (cites available) After his original arrest, Kokesh posted bail in Virginia and was immediately rearrested by U.S. Park Police for breaking a D.C. law forbidding bearing arms which carries a penalty of up to five years in jail, in connection with his Freedom Plaza video. The police apparently originally believed the vid was faked with a green screen, but Kokesh insisted it was real, he had done it. Magistrate Judge Lori Parker ordered Kokesh to remain in the D.C. jail over the weekend because, she said, he had violated the rules of his release in another case, apparently a recent (June 2013) pot charge on the south side of the White House. On July 29 D.C. Superior Court Judge Frederick Sullivan, ordered him to remain in D.C. jail until trial. At a hearing on August 13, D.C. Superior Court Judge Patricia A. Broderick indicated she would consider releasing Mr. Kokesh to a "high intensity supervision program as he awaits trial." Prosecutors continued to object to Mr. Kokesh's release and said they were working on putting together a plea deal, "which is common in such cases." Original trial date was set for Oct. 24, but delayed. On August 28, Judge Patricia A. Broderick ordered that Kokesh remain in jail until his trial, citing his previous bond violations, guns and drugs found in his home, and that he had no verifiable employment. His D.C. trial has been pushed back to at least November 18th. He hasn't been considered a "terrorist" and they aren't holding him under those terms.

Add to that when he was arrested he apparently refused to come out of his cell for fingerprinting and arraignment. And his lawyer quit. He has done everything he could to generate the attention he's gotten.

I wouldn't condone badass cop behaviour, and I wouldn't doubt there was some of that. To paraphrase, ol' Waylon..."are you sure Martin done it this way?"

[O Really]

Might you be a bit guilty of posting articles with facts slightly skewed?...

Could be, but not according to what you posted. My link doesn't include every detail but it doesn't mention "terrorist" (your strawman?), "Judge Patricia A. Broderick ordered that Kokesh remain in jail until his trial", the related charges are mushrooms that could have belonged to any resident if they weren't planted, a "pot charge" (horrors!) that was probably also an act of nonviolent civil disobedience, and a gun charge that for all we know may not have involved a working shotgun or real shells even if the video was real, and that was also a 1st/2nd Amendment protest. Is DC so lacking in violent criminals that it has to fill up its jails with the likes of unconvicted Adam Kokesh?

"Terrorist" wasn't a straw man. The article implied that he was being held in a way that would be quasi legal only if he had been labeled a terrorist. I simply stated that he was not being held in any way outside non-PATRIOT procedures, and had had hearings, had legal representation, also had previous charges, etc. The article expressed the view that his lawyer was bought off or threatened off by the government. I seriously doubt that. I'm guessing his lawyer got tired of a client who wouldn't participate in his own defense.

Probably there are a lot of worse criminals in DC, including most all of those who wear an "R" next to the name on their office door. But in Kokesh's case, the gun made the difference. What he says is protected - waving his shotgun around is not.