Local
Sexual assault may be dropped in Wone murder case
The lead prosecutor in the Robert Wone murder case startled courtroom spectators last
The lead prosecutor in the Robert Wone murder case startled courtroom spectators last week when he said the government would likely drop its theory that Wone was immobilized by a paralytic drug and sexually assaulted before being stabbed to death in the Dupont Circle home of three gay men.
The disclosure by Assistant U.S. Attorney Glenn Kirschner at a D.C. Superior Court hearing March 12 drew visible sighs of relief from defendants Joseph Price, Victor Zaborsky and Dylan Ward. Price gave a thumbs-up signal to his attorney, Bernard Grimm.
“This appears to be a major victory for the defense,” said D.C. attorney Dale Sanders, who practices criminal law in the District.
Sanders said that by withdrawing its earlier contention that Wone was sexually assaulted and drugged, prosecutors would make it easier for the defense to promote their own contention that an unidentified intruder killed Wone after entering the home of the three gay men through a rear door.
The men have been indicted on charges of obstruction of justice, conspiracy to obstruct justice, and evidence tampering in connection with the August 2006 murder. Authorities have yet to charge anyone with the murder itself. The trial is scheduled to begin May 10.
Kirschner told D.C. Superior Court Judge Lynn Leibovitz that prosecutors were still considering introducing other evidence at trial considered highly controversial: a collection of S&M sex toys seized by police from Ward’s bedroom, which prosecutors have said was located across the hall from where Wone was found stabbed in a second-floor guest bedroom.
Wone, a prominent Washington attorney, was friends with the three men and spending the night at their home after working late in his downtown office, the men and members of Wone’s family have said. Wone was married to a woman, and his family members said he was straight.
Leibovitz said she had yet to see sufficient evidence presented by prosecutors to justify the introduction of the “devices” at trial. She noted that defense attorneys presented arguments as to why such evidence was not relevant to the case and how it would be prejudicial to the jury.
She directed prosecutors to file a motion before April 2 explaining their rationale for introducing such evidence and said she would rule on its admissibility at that time.
Leibovitz denied a motion by the defense asking the court to order prosecutors to release more details surrounding their evidence and theories in the case, saying the government has complied with all “discovery” requirements for informing the defense of its evidence.
Last week’s hearing followed a court motion filed by prosecutors in February seeking permission to introduce evidence at trial that Price, Zaborsky and Ward engaged in possible criminal conduct not identified in the charges pending against them. Some of the alleged conduct cited in the court filing pertained to the use of S&M-related restraining devices as well as devices used to administer electrical shocks to a person’s genitals.
“Are you planning to tell the jury that he was sexually assaulted, restrained,” that sex toys were used on him and he was injected with something? Leibovitz asked Kirschner.
“We’re moving away from the sexual assault proof,” Kirschner replied. But he said prosecutors still planned to offer some evidence that “restraints” were found in Ward’s bedroom.
In response to another assertion made by prosecutors in their February court filing — that “the killer is someone known to and being protected” by Price, Zaborsky and Ward — Leibovitz asked Kirschner, ” Do you plan to say one or all of these men killed Wone?”
“Not directly,” Kirschner replied.
He said prosecutors also plan to present evidence from the autopsy of needle marks on Wone’s body, including marks he noted the government’s medical experts would show were not made by emergency medical technicians who arrived at the scene and tried to revive Wone.
Kirschner disclosed at the hearing that he had submitted a letter to the defense earlier in the day, which he also filed with the court, saying that the government obtained new information from medical experts that appeared to raise doubts over whether Wone had been sexually assaulted or immobilized by a paralytic drug.
Authorities first raised that theory in a lengthy criminal complaint filed at the time police brought criminal charges against the three men for obstruction of justice and evidence tampering.
The complaint cited an autopsy finding showing that Wone suffered three surgical-like, clean stab wounds in the chest and abdomen that could only have occurred if he were lying completely still. The complaint, and subsequent arguments by prosecutors, claimed that a person being stabbed would be expected to recoil in pain or move in a defensive way, causing the wounds to be jagged or distorted.
Prosecutors said a paralytic drug must have been administered to Wone to render him immobile, but they acknowledged that the autopsy and subsequent chemical tests could not find traces of such a drug in Wone’s body. They argued that the type of anesthesia-like drug in question usually dissipates quickly and cannot be detected in tests.
But defense attorneys say in their own court filings that they would present expert witnesses to show that such drugs are detectable in tests, and the government’s inability to detect such a drug shows it was never administered.
According to prosecutors, the sexual assault theory was based on another finding in the autopsy that traces of Wone’s semen were found inside his rectum. The defense later argued that its own experts would show that the semen had no sperm cells, indicating it was secreted naturally by the body after Wone died, as muscles relax during the post mortem processes.
Sanders said that although the apparent decision by prosecutors to put aside their earlier sexual assault and paralytic drug theory is a blow to the prosecutors’ case, other evidence obtained against the three men remains significant and strong.
He noted, among other things, that investigators found traces of blood in the lint trap of the men’s clothes dryer and in a drain outside the house; findings by evidence technicians that someone cleaned the crime scene by attempting to wipe blood spattered near the body; and that the bloody kitchen knife that the men said they found near Wone’s body bore fibers from a towel, indicating to evidence experts that Wone’s blood was wiped onto knife blade by someone, with another knife likely used to kill Wone.
Authorities also have said Wone appeared to have been dead a significant period of time before Zaborsky called 911 to report a stabbing; and rescue workers reported finding very little blood on Wone’s chest and body, indicating that someone cleaned the body before police and rescue workers were called, according to the police affidavit.
“They won this battle, but the war doesn’t look good for them,” Sanders said. “You can’t lose track of the big picture, which doesn’t look good for these guys.”
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Congratulations to R. Warren Gill III, M.Div., M.A. on being appointed as the development manager at HIPS. Upon his appointment, Gill said, “For as long as I’ve lived in Washington, D.C., I’ve followed and admired the life-saving work HIPS does in our communities. I’m proud to join the staff and help strengthen the financial support that sustains this work.”
Gill will lead fundraising strategy, donor engagement, and institutional partnerships. HIPS promotes the health, rights, and dignity of individuals and communities impacted by sexual exchange and/or drug use due to choice, coercion, or circumstance. HIPS provides compassionate harm reduction services, advocacy, and community engagement that is respectful, non-judgmental, and affirms and honors individual power and agency.
Gill has built a career at the intersection of progressive politics, advocacy, and nonprofit leadership. Previously he served as director of communications at AIDS United, supporting national efforts to end the HIV epidemic. Prior to that he had roles including; being press secretary for Sen. Bernie Sanders during the 2016 presidential primary, and working with the General Board of Church and Society, the United Methodist Church, the denomination’s social justice and advocacy arm.
Gill earned his bachelor’s degree in philosophy and religious studies, Jewish Studies, Stockton University; his master’s degree in political communication from American University, where his graduate research focused on values-based messaging and cognitive linguistics; and his master of Divinity degree from the Pacific School of Religion.
District of Columbia
Judge denies D.C. request to dismiss gay police captain’s anti-bias lawsuit
MPD accused of illegally demoting officer for taking family leave to care for newborn child
A U.S. District Court judge on Jan. 21 denied a request by attorneys representing the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department to dismiss a lawsuit filed by a gay captain accusing police officials of illegally demoting him for taking parental leave to join his husband in caring for their newborn son.
The lawsuit filed by Capt. Paul Hrebenak charges that police officials violated the U.S. Family and Medical Leave Act, a similar D.C. family leave law, and the Constitution’s Equal Protection Clause by refusing to allow him to return to his position as director of the department’s School Safety Division upon his return from parental leave.
It says police officials transferred Hrebenak to another police division against his wishes, which was a far less desirable job and was the equivalent of a demotion, even though it had the same pay grade as his earlier job.
In response to a motion filed by attorneys with the Office of the D.C. Attorney General, which represents and defends D.C. government agencies against lawsuits, Judge Randolph D. Moss agreed to dismiss seven of the lawsuit’s 14 counts or claims but left in place six counts.
Scott Lempert, the attorney representing Hrebenak, said he and Hrebenak agreed to drop one of the 14 counts prior to the Jan. 21 court hearing.
“He did not dismiss the essential claims in this case,” Lempert told the Washington Blade. “So, we won is the short answer. We defeated the motion to dismiss the case.”
Gabriel Shoglow, a spokesperson for the Office of the D.C. Attorney General, said the office has a policy of not commenting on pending litigation and it would not comment on the judge’s ruling upholding six of the lawsuit’s initial 14 counts.
In issuing his ruling from the bench, Moss gave Lempert the option of filing an amended complaint by March 6 to seek the reinstatement of the counts he dismissed. He gave attorneys for the D.C. attorney general’s office a deadline of March 20 to file a response to an amended complaint.
Lempert told the Blade he and Hrebenak have yet to decide whether to file an amended complaint or whether to ask the judge to move the case ahead to a jury trial, which they initially requested.
In its 26-page motion calling for dismissal of the case, filed on May 30, 2025, D.C. Office of the Attorney General attorneys argue that the police department has legal authority to transfer its officers, including captains, to a different job. It says that Hrebenak’s transfer to a position of watch commander at the department’s First District was fully equivalent in status to his job as director of the School Safety Division.
“The Watch Commander position is not alleged to have changed plaintiff’s rank of captain or his benefits or pay, and thus plaintiff has not plausibly alleged that he was put in a non-equivalent position,” the motion to dismiss states.
“Thus, his reassignment is not a demotion,” it says. “And the fact that his shift changed does not mean that the position is not equivalent to his prior position. The law does not require that every single aspect of the positions be the same.”
Hrebenak’s lawsuit states that “straight” police officers have routinely taken similar family and parental leave to care for a newborn child and have not been transferred to a different job. According to the lawsuit, the School Safety Division assignment allowed him to work a day shift, a needed shift for his recognized disability of Crohn’s Disease, which the lawsuit says is exacerbated by working late hours at night.
The lawsuit points out that Hrebenak disclosed he had Crohn’s Disease at the time he applied for his police job, and it was determined he could carry out his duties as an officer despite this ailment, which was listed as a disability.
Among other things, the lawsuit notes that Hrebenak had a designated reserved parking space for his earlier job and lost the parking space for the job to which he was transferred.
“Plaintiff’s removal as director at MPD’s School Safety Division was a targeted, premeditated punishment for his taking statutorily protected leave as a gay man,” the lawsuit states. “There was no operational need by MPD to remove plaintiff as director of MPD’s School Safety Division, a position in which plaintiff very successfully served for years,” it says.
In another action to strengthen Hrebenak’s opposition to the city’s motion to dismiss the case, Lempert filed with the court on Jan. 15 a “Notice of Supplemental Authority” that included two controversial reports that Lempert said showed that former D.C. Police Chief Pamela Smith put in place a policy of involuntary police transfers “to effectively demote and end careers of personnel who had displeased Chief Smith and or others in MPD leadership.”
One of the reports was prepared by the Republican members of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee and the other was prepared by the office of Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. attorney for D.C. appointed by President Donald Trump.
Both reports allege that Smith, who resigned from her position as chief effective Dec. 31, pressured police officials to change crime reporting data to make it appear that the number of violent crimes was significantly lower than it actually was by threatening to transfer them to undesirable positions in the department. Smith has denied those claims.
“These findings support plaintiff’s arguments that it was the policy or custom of MPD to inflect involuntary transfers on MPD personnel as retaliation for doing or saying something in which leadership disapproved,” Lempert says in his court filing submitting the two reports.
“As shown, many officers suffered under this pervasive custom, including Capt. Hrebenak,” he stated. “Accordingly, by definition, transferred positions were not equivalent to officers’ previous positions,” he added.
Virginia
LGBTQ rights at forefront of 2026 legislative session in Va.
Repeal of state’s marriage amendment a top priority
With 2026 ramping up, LGBTQ rights are at the forefront of Virginia politics.
The repeal of Virginia’s constitutional amendment that defines marriage as between a man and a woman is a top legislative priority for activists and advocacy groups.
The Virginia Senate on Jan. 17 by a 26-13 vote margin approved outgoing state Sen. Adam Ebbin (D-Alexandria)’s resolution that would repeal the Marshall-Newman Amendment. The Virginia House of Delegates earlier this month passed it.
Two successive legislatures must approve the resolution before it can go to the ballot.
The resolution passed in 2025. Voters are expected to consider repealing the amendment on Nov. 3.
The Virginia General Assembly opened with an introduction of a two-year budget — Virginia’s budget runs biannually.
In 2024 some funding was allocated to LGBTQ causes, and others were passed over. This year’s proposed budget leaves room for funding for a host of LGBTQ opportunities. One specific priority that Equality Virginia is promoting would ensure the state budget expands healthcare for LGBTQ individuals and extending gender affirming care.
Equality Virginia Communications Director Reed Williams told the Washington Blade the organization is also focused on passing three main budget amendments, and ensuring “LGBTQ+ students and their teachers have resources to navigate and address mental health challenges in K-12 schools.”
Along with ensuring school training, the organization wants funding in hopes of “establishing enhanced competency training for Virginia’s 988 Lifeline counselors and support staff to provide affirming care for LGBTQ+ youth.” This comes after the Trump-Vance administration shut down the specific hotline for LGBTQ young people that callers could previously reach if they called 988.
On a federal level, protections and health care access for LGBTQ people has taken a hit, as the Trump-Vance administration has continued to issue executive orders affecting the health care system. LGBTQ people no longer have federal legal health care protections, so local and state politics has become even more important for LGBTQ rights groups.
Equality Virginia has urged its supporters to call their local senators and stress the importance of voting to expand health care protections for LGBTQ people. The organization also plans to hold information sessions and a lobby day on Feb. 2.
Equality Virginia is tracking bills on its website.
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