Sunday, April 23, 2017
Court: 75-Year-Old Vet Not Guilty for Displaying U.S. Flags Above VA Fence
A U.S. veteran who was charged in 2016 with the federal crime of desecrating Veterans Administration property by displaying two napkin-sized flags on top of a VA fence was found not guilty yesterday, according to the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.
Robert Rosebrock, a 75-year-old veteran, had placed the tiny U.S. flags atop the fence at the Great Lawn Gate entrance to Veterans Park in Los Angeles on Memorial Day, May 30, 2016. He and other veterans regularly gathered there to protest what they say is the VA's failure to use the park properly for the benefit of veterans.
"Now that the court has rightly dismissed the government's outrageous flag-displaying charges against Mr. Rosebrock, we hope that he and his fellow patriots will be allowed to honor the flag and commemorate their fellow veterans as they deem appropriate," said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton in an April 18 statement.
Robert Rosebrock faced a six-month prison sentence if found guilty.
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3 comments:
Robert Rosebrock faced a six-month prison sentence if found guilty.
A six-month prison sentence for displaying small flags at a veteran's park; unbelievable !
Why would he have faced six months for two tiny little flags did the flags offend some little snowflake or so called refugee as degreed by some whiny voiced little liberal snowflake
As usual, the commenters here are not totally informed of what happened.
This is not just a "park." The park is part of the VA complex - one of the largest in the nation.
There is federal law that prevents people from attaching or mounting anything to VA property without the VA's approval.
While that seems strange, can you imagine the haters of the military posting signs all over the VA if the regulation were not in place? So instead of banning for content (which is unConstitutional) the VA just banned everything.
While many disagree with the ban - especially for flags - would you want to allow flags to be attached to the fence and then burned? If you allow the flag to be hung on the fence, you have to allow its burning on the fence. Would you allow someone to hang the flag upside down on the fence as a sign of distress?
This was not Rosebrock's first rodeo with this. He had been charged before and the VA tried to work with him which is good. However, they are bound by a 1973 Federal law. This is not, as the ignorant BoP says, offending some snowflake or refugee. The law has been around.
Rosebrock has been protesting at the VA complex since 2008. He wants homeless vets to be able to camp and establish tent / cardboard cities on the site.
Rosebrock was found "not guilty" not because he did not commit the offense (which caries a $50 fine) but because the government could not prove Rosebrock was aware of the law and that he had put the flag up.
It's definitely a strange case, but there is much more to this than meets the eye and much more than CNS reported.
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