Norfolk, VA: Danladi Moore prevails in trumped up "tresspass for open carrying&amp

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Subject: VA-ALERT: Norfolk LOSES to Danladi Moore, again!

Date: 2/10/2009 3:35:00 P.M. Eastern Standard Time

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Big Win for Gun Owners! 2/10/09

I just got the word - Danladi Moore, who was arrested for trespass by
a Norfolk police officer last August while Danladi was lawfully open
carrying at Norfolk's Waterside Mall, has just won his case in court!

The judge told the Norfolk City Attorney that because of the City's
financial interest in the mall, the mall is considered PUBLIC property
and Danladi was therefore NOT trespassing. All charges are to be
dropped.

Well, well - another most deserved lesson to City Attorney Bernard
Pishko on not harassing law-abiding gun owners.

Pishko was hell-bent on prosecuting Danladi Moore to teach him a
lesson because Danladi had challenged Norfolk's authority in a
previous harassment case and won a $10,000 settlement.

Hopefully Dan can now sue the pants off Norfolk AGAIN!

I wonder how much this latest blunder is going to cost Norfolk?
Perhaps another zero on the end of the previous settlement?

Go get 'em, Danladi! ;-)

We are attempting to get the transcript of the ruling as it could have
much bigger implications for other such government-owned venues across
the state.

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(VCDL). VCDL is an all-volunteer, non-partisan grassroots organization
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Keep and Bear Arms is a fundamental human right.

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That's right!

What now? :celebrate

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Norfolk City Attorney: (757) 664-4529

Bernard Pishko

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I just spoke with Harry Minium, the reporter who wrote the Oct 8 story where Bernard Pishko noted that Dan's "judgement" will "cost him".

Mr. Minium told me that he spoke with Dan earlier today and has already written a story that will appear in tomorrows paper. It is undergoing the editing process right now.

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Can't wait to hear the full story - while I'm glad the judge did speak to preemption/public property, but I think the City's criminal trespass charge was not going to fly anyway for other reasons, i.e., that no trespass occurred even if the incident took place on purely private property and a uniformed police officer did what that officer did without the owner or agent first issuing an order to Dan to leave.

The police are not wandering prison wardens set loose on society to enforce private rules or good ideas as they see fit.

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You know, I have to believe that the taxpayers of Norfolk must be a bit pissed off about this. Wouldn't it be much better if the police officers and the prosecutor were held personally accountable for their stupidity. Maybe that way they'd think before they did something really dumb.. like this. And maybe they might start to learn that it is we, the people, to whom they are really accountable.

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Here's more at: http://news.oldva.org/blogroll/norfolk-loses-its-case-against-the-open-carry-of-firearms

Norfolk loses it’s case against the open carry of firearms.

The latest battle in the ongoing war between the city of Norfolk, who feel that they can ignore Virginia’s laws, and Danladi Moore, has ended with Moore the clear winner.



This is a big win for honest citizens who only want to protect themselves and their families, and a clear kick in the backsides to the corrupt City officials and especially the police force.

Rumor has it that Moore will sue the city. In an earlier incident in Tidewater, Moore collected a $10,000.00 settlement in a similar case.

See the attached story

By Debbie Messina
The Virginian-Pilot
© October 9, 2008
NORFOLK

Hours after guns-rights activists marched on City Hall to demand
police leave them alone, they said one was charged after refusing an
order to leave Waterside because he was openly carrying a weapon.

Danladi Moore – whom the city paid $10,000 in July to avoid
litigation after being stopped by police for suspected weapons
violations – was charged with trespassing at the downtown entertainment
complex Tuesday night.

The 24-year-old Hampton resident said police told him to leave
because he had a gun. Moore said he refused because the law allows him
to display a weapon in public places. He said he was handcuffed,
charged and led out of the building.

Norfolk police spokesman Officer Chris Amos confirmed that a summons was issued but declined to comment further.

Waterside receives city funding but is officially owned by a private
entity, Waterside Associates, whose partners include the Norfolk
Redevelopment and Housing Authority, said NRHA assistant executive
director John Kownack. Its policy prohibits weapons, yet weapons are
not included on a list of prohibitions posted at Waterside’s entrances,
he added.

The incident happened after about a dozen members of the Virginia
Citizens Defense League finished dinner at the Hooters restaurant at
Waterside. Earlier, they had joined about 50 others at a City Council
meeting to complain that their rights had been violated by police.

Most of them were openly carrying guns, but only Moore and his two friends were approached, members of the group said.

Philip Van Cleave, who leads the guns-rights group and was with
Moore at Waterside but did not witness the exchange, said it was
unbelievable.

“I don’t see a conspiracy here – I see more ineptness,” he said. “And there may well be prejudice too.”

Moore is black. Van Cleave and most of the others are white.

Moore said a friend who was with him at Waterside also was carrying
a gun and also had challenged police when asked to leave. He said his
friend, who is white, was not charged.

John Pierce, co-founder of the national group OpenCarry.org, said,
“Even if this was a perfectly innocent mistake, the timing could not
have been worse.”

Debbie Messina, (757) 446-2588, debbie.messina@pilotonline.com

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You're da man, Mr. Moore!! Now, get your stimulus package from the City of Norfolk!!

2nd Amendment.......Use it........Or, lose it!!:X

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AbNo wrote:

That's right!

What now? :celebrate

Click to expand...

needs more banana! :celebrate:celebrate

Congrats Dan!

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Dan, thanks again for having the courage to "stand up and be counted." You alone have dragged an entire city one more step in the right direction.

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Congratulations, Dan.

Well done on continuing the fight.

Best wishes for continued victories should you choose to carry it further.

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Great job Dan

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:banghead:Are you serious? They got spanked and now they go after the same guy? Insanity!

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Congrats Dan, make 'em pay!!! Maybe they'll get the message this time around :celebrate

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Dan is his own "One Man Million Dollar March"...go Dan, go!!

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HOOO AHHH! :celebrate

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Waterside receives city funding but is officially owned by a private entity, Waterside Associates, whose partners include the Norfolk Redevelopment and Housing Authority, said NRHA assistant executive director John Kownack. Its policy prohibits weapons, yet weapons are not included on a list of prohibitions posted at Waterside’s entrances, he added.

Click to expand...

Hell, last time I was down there, I stopped by Waterside, OC'd the whole time, and even got some nice pictures and video.

In fact, I got a couple of pictures of a sign behind Waterside, one that faces the water, and any mentions of weapons bans were taped/painted over. :quirky

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Hell, last time I was down there, I stopped by Waterside, OC'd the whole time, and even got some nice pictures and video.

In fact, I got a couple of pictures of a sign behind Waterside, one that faces the water, and any mentions of weapons bans were taped/painted over. :quirky

Click to expand...

:lol:

Policy is not law correct? They can only ask you to leave or can they nail you with some offense immediately?

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I'm wondering how fresh the tape/paint was? Whatever... it's not by accident.

"Waterside Associates, whose partners include the Norfolk
Redevelopment and Housing Authority, said NRHA assistant executive
director John Kownack. Its policy prohibits weapons, yet weapons are
not included on a list of prohibitions posted at Waterside’s entrances,
he added."

Waterside Associates may be doin' a pre-emptive CYA as suite protection? NRHA's supposed 'policy' is on shaky legal ground... Prob'ly illegal now that the area has been deemed public property.:uhoh:

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Here's more!

--



http://hamptonroads.com/2009/02/judge-clears-man-arrested-gun-dispute-waterside


Judge clears man arrested in gun dispute at Waterside
Posted to: News Norfolk









Dan Moore, right, waits to be served while openly carrying his handgun at a local restaurant in Virginia Beach last year. (Hyunsoo Leo Kim | The Virginian-Pilot)





By Harry Minium
The Virginian-Pilot
© February 11, 2009
NORFOLK

It's legal to wear a gun on your hip in Waterside, a judge decided Tuesday.

After hearing more than two hours of testimony, a General District Court judge dismissed a trespassing charge against Dan Moore, a Hampton resident who police said was ordered to leave Waterside for carrying a weapon, and refused to leave.

State laws permit openly carrying firearms in public places. City officials contended that Waterside, though built in part with public funds, is owned by a private entity and thus is a private facility not subject to state laws.

Judge James S. Mathews did not agree. After hearing from six witnesses called by the city attorney's office, he dismissed the charges, ruling that

Waterside is a public facility, said Stephen Merrill, a Norfolk attorney who represented Moore.

Merrill introduced evidence obtained through the Freedom of Information Act from the Norfolk Redevelopment and Housing Authority that from the time Waterside opened, "not one dollar in private money has been lost in managing the facility," Merrill said. "Clearly, it's a public facility."

Moore was ecstatic.

"I had a hard time sleeping last night," he said. "This has been a very stressful thing. It was a great relief to hear the judge dismiss the charges."

Moore had several previous run-ins with the Norfolk police while carrying a gun in a holster. After he was detained downtown in 2007 for standing outside the Bank of America building with a gun, the city paid him $10,000 to avoid a lawsuit.

In September, he was detained while trying to ride a Hampton Roads Transit bus.

A month later, after he and other gun -rights activists spoke to the City Council, he was arrested at Waterside. Moore said he will sue for the bus and Waterside incidents.

"The police think they can do this to me, but they can't," he said. "Someone has to answer for this."

Andrew Fox, who prosecuted the case for the city attorney's office, said the city disagrees with Mathews' decision, calling it "an erroneous application of the law."

Fox said the city can't appeal the decision, but added the city will continue to aid private businesses "in enforcing policies they determine to be necessary and appropriate to the safe and efficient operation of their premises."

Gun -rights activists celebrated the decision.

"This is another lesson to Norfolk that they need to worry about criminals and stop picking on law-abiding citizens just exercising their constitutional right," said Philip Van Cleave, who heads the Virginia Citizens Defense League, a gun-rights group. "The city is acting like a bully."

Merrill, who is based in Ghent, was more understanding. "It's shocking for people in a city like Norfolk to see people open-carry," he said. "Even though it's been the law for a long time, it hasn't been practiced here until recently.

"But it's surprising that the city has been so slow coming around on this."

Harry Minium, (757) 446-2371, harry.minium@pilotonline.com