The Federal Government has abruptly dismissed the charges against Lt. Dan Choi and Capt. James Pietrangelo today right before their trial was set to get underway. Choi and Pietranhelo were charged with “failure to obey a lawful order” after handcuffing themselves to the White House fence earlier this year. (March 18th, See Story below)

From reports everything was all set to go,  the arresting officers and Secret Service witnesses were in the courtroom ready to proceed when the charges were mysteriously dismissed.

Joe Sudbay over at AmericaBlog is quoting Paul Yandura, who was in the courtroom: “It’s clear that they were embarrassed that we were going to expose the fiction that repeal is finished or imminent. They were embarrassed that we subpoenaed the President and were going to use his words. It’s clear that civil disobedience was the winner today.”

Immediately aftre the trail Choi asked the prosecutor if this meant the “stay away” order from the White House was no longer valid. The prosecutor said, yes. So I expect we can plan to see him there soon.  (And it would be nice if others joined him.)