For those of you who remember that time I stripped to my boxers at a TSA checkpoint to avoid a pat down, today was the day I had to face the court for my charge of “disorderly conduct.” This being the first hearing, I knew I would have the opportunity to ask for a continuance, (postponement of trial) but since it was a misdemeanor, they could have gone straight to trial. When called to stand before the court, I informed the judge that I intended to plead not guilty, retain an attorney, subpoena TSA agents as witnesses, and submit security tapes as evidence. The trial date was set for May 18.

When I got home, I checked my voicemail and found this:
“Mr Kokesh, hi, my name is Ryan Perry. I’m a Commonwealth attorney in Loudoun County, Virginia. … You were just in court today for a disorderly conduct charge out at the airport. Our office, when people determine that they’re going to get an attorney, our office reviews all the files ’cause our office doesn’t get involved in these cases unless there’s an attorney involved. I reviewed your file today. I watched the video. I don’t think this is a violation of disorderly conduct and there were people all around you and none of them got violent and that’s essentially what is needed for disorderly conduct, to incite violence in others. So we’re not willing to go forward with the prosecution of the case. Essentially, what we’re going to do is move for an order of nolle prosequi which essentially means we’re not prosecuting.”

All I had to do was show up in court today and say “not guilty!” Sometimes, you just have to stand up for yourself and the state backs down. Now if only we could do something about the TSA or the REAL root of the problem . . .