Rev. Lennox Yearwood is the president of the Hip Hop Caucus. You may recognize him as Joe's cohort in delivering some 32,000 petition signatures to the FEC on Monday in protest of John McCain's violating campaign finance law.
According to CREW (Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington), the DC Attorney General - frustrated by having to dismiss earlier fabricated charges against Rev. Yearwood - has filed new, trumped-up charges stemming from the Reverend's participation in a protest last October:
Previously, Rev. Yearwood had been charged with assault on a police officer and disorderly conduct when he attempted to attend a September 11, 2007 House hearing during which General David Petraeus was scheduled to testify about the Iraq war. While Rev. Yearwood’s attorney, Melanie Sloan of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, was able to persuade the U.S. Attorney’s office to quickly dismiss the assault charge, the Attorney General’s office insisted on proceeding with the disorderly conduct charge. Only on the day of trial, February 25, 2008, when it was clear that Rev. Yearwood was prepared to put on a full defense, did the Attorney General’s office agree to dismiss the charges.CREW says Rev. Yearwood plans to fight the charges and defend all Americans' right to protest the government. Doesn't the DC AG have better things to do?
At the same time the Assistant Attorney General conceded that it had no case against Rev. Yearwood for his conduct on September 11th, in retaliation, the Assistant announced the government’s intention to bring new charges against Rev. Yearwood stemming from his participation in the October 22nd protest.
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