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Hannah gets 100 days in jail on new charges

Served 6 months in 2008 death of gay Md. man

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Robert Hannah

Robert Hannah pleaded guilty on July 14 to possession of marijuana following a drug arrest the previous month and to attempted threats against his girlfriend. (Washington Blade file photo)

Robert Hannah, a 20-year-old D.C. man who served six months in jail for a 2008 assault that led to the death of gay Maryland resident Tony Randolph Hunter, was sentenced on July 19 to 100 days in jail on new charges unrelated to the Hunter case.

In the latest case, Hannah pleaded guilty on July 14 to possession of marijuana following a drug arrest the previous month and to attempted threats against his girlfriend in a separate domestic violence related case in which he was arrested on June 19.

The two new cases came after he completed his sentence in the Hunter case, for which he pleaded guilty to a single count of simple assault. Police and prosecutors initially charged him with manslaughter after an investigation found that Hunter suffered a fatal brain injury in September 2009 as a result of falling to the ground and hitting his head on the pavement after Hannah punched him near a D.C. gay bar.

A grand jury lowered the charge to simple assault after prosecutors with the U.S. Attorneyā€™s office said they lacked sufficient evidence to support the manslaughter charge. The action by the grand jury triggered expressions of outrage from LGBT activists, who said they believed Hannah targeted Hunter for an anti-gay attack.

At aĀ July 19 sentencing hearing, Superior Court Judge Jose Lopez sentenced Hannah to the maximum 180 days in jail for both the marijuana possession and attempted threats charges. But he suspended all of the jail time in the threats case and all but 100 days of prison time in the marijuana case, requiring Hannah to serve a total of 100 days in jail.

Lopez also ordered that Hannah be placed on two years of supervised probation upon his release and that he undergo drug and alcohol testing and treatment as well as anger management counseling.

The sentence came after the U.S. Attorneyā€™s office submitted a pre-sentencing memorandum asking the judge to sentence Hannah to the maximum 180 days for each of the two charges and to require that he serve the sentences consecutively.

ā€œThe defendant stands before this Court with a previous conviction of simple assault, an assault that resulted in the death of Tony Randolph Hunter,ā€ the sentencing memo says. ā€œUnfortunately, the facts of this most recent domestic violence case make abundantly clear that Mr. Hannah learned nothing from the death of Tony Randolph Hunter,ā€ says the governmentā€™s memo.

Richard Toth, Hannah’s attorney, declined to comment when contacted by the Blade.

Court papers show that the attempted threat and simple assault charges were classified as a domestic violence incident that D.C. police said involved Hannah allegedly using physical force to pull his girlfriend against her will into a street.

Gays and Lesbians Opposing Violence (GLOV), a D.C. group, and residents of the Shaw neighborhood where Hannah lives said they planned to file community impact statements with the court urging the judge to hand down a stringent sentence.

LGBT and community activists have been following Hannahā€™s involvement in the criminal justice system since he was released from jail after serving a maximum six-month sentence in connection with the Hunter case.

In a highly controversial action, the U.S. Attorneyā€™s office allowed Hannah to plead guilty to simple assault over an incident in which he admitted punching Hunter in the face after the two crossed paths on the street while Hunter and a friend were walking to a gay bar.

Hunter fell backwards into a fence before falling to the ground and hitting his head on the pavement, resulting in a brain injury that the cityā€™s medical examiner said caused his death.

Hannah told police he hit Hunter in self-defense after Hunter allegedly touched his crotch and buttocks in a sexually suggestive way. Police said a witness backed up Hannahā€™s story. A friend of Hunterā€™s, who was also on the scene, told police Hunter never touched Hannah and that the attack against Hunter was unprovoked.

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District of Columbia

D.C. police investigating anti-gay assault at 14th & U McDonaldā€™s

In separate incident, gay man found unconscious near Florida Avenue bar

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Sebastian Thomas Robles Lascarro was attacked at a McDonaldā€™s at 14th and U streets. (Photos courtesy of Stuart West)

D.C. police are investigating an incident in which a group of as many as 15 men and women allegedly assaulted a gay man while some of them called him a ā€œfaggotā€ at around 1 a.m. on Sunday, Oct. 27,  at the McDonaldā€™s restaurant at 14th and U Streets, N.W., according to a police report and the victimā€™s husband.

The report, which lists the incident as a suspected hate crime, says the victim, Sebastian Thomas Robles Lascarro, was taken to Howard University Hospital for treatment. A police spokesperson said he was released from the hospital the next day.

A GoFundMe page posted by Stuart West, Lascarroā€™s husband, who said Lascarro goes by his middle name Thomas, states, ā€œMedical bills, therapy costs, and ongoing recovery needs will continue to increase and any help to ensure he gets the care he needs to regain his health and peace of mind will be a blessing.ā€

The GoFundMe message adds, ā€œThomas was attacked by a mob who used hateful, derogatory language targeting his identity as a gay man. This horrific hate crime left him hospitalized overnight, facing serious physical injuries and emotional trauma.ā€

In response to an inquiry from the Blade about the 14th and U Street incident, a D.C. police spokesperson disclosed that a man whose friends identify him as gay was found unconscious on the ground suffering from a head injuryĀ about 5 a.m. also on Sunday, Oct. 27, at the intersection of 5th and T Streets, N.W. just off Florida Avenue near the gay bar Uproar.

A police report lists the case as a robbery but doesnā€™t say how the injuries he suffered to his head happened. And like the case of the gay man attacked at the McDonaldā€™s, friends of the man found unconscious posted a GoFundMe page identifying the man.

ā€œBryan Smith (aka the barber) recently suffered immense trauma to his head and will be hospitalized for the foreseeable future,ā€ it says. ā€œBryan is a dear friend and a pillar in the D.C. queer and nightlife communities,ā€ the GoFundMe appeal says. ā€œAny amount of donations would be greatly appreciated to go towards the upcoming expenses he will incur.ā€

One of the friends who posted the GoFundMe told the Washington Blade they would have no further comment at this time. However, D.C.ā€™s Fox 5 News reports members of Smithā€™s family said he remains in a coma, with D.C. police saying they have video footage of two possible suspects who reportedly took Smithā€™s phone and wallet containing credit cards.

Although people who knew Smith said he had worked for many years as a hairstylist, the Fox 5 News report says he had recently been serving as a DJ. It points out that police are offering a $1,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction of the perpetrators responsible for Smithā€™s robbery and assault.

West, the husband of Lascarro, when contacted by the Blade, said Lascarro, 22, had been at the nearby gay bars Crush and Bunker, and he stopped at the McDonaldā€™s on his way home. West said the assault began inside the McDonaldā€™s, which was crowded with customers. He said the police report correctly states that Lascarro told police the incident began when one of the attackers, a woman, criticized him for not saying ā€œexcuse meā€ when he walked past her.   

ā€œHe ignored her, and he walked away,ā€ West told the Blade, adding that the woman then called him a faggot and her friends, who were mostly men, blocked the exit door at the McDonaldā€™s, preventing Lascarro from leaving and demanded that he apologize to the woman.

ā€œAnd when he said he was not going to apologize and he raised his hand to try and move the door to get out, thatā€™s when more than 10 individuals started to assault him,ā€ West said. ā€œAnd so, they started punching him all over his face and body, and it eventually moved to outside the McDonaldā€™s on the D.C. sidewalk, where more people got involved and started hitting him and assaulting him.ā€

At one point when Lascarro was sitting on the ground, ā€œbloodied, dazed, and confused, they decided to throw drinks and trash at him,ā€ West said. He said when two people walking by asked him if he needed help, Lascarro was able to dial 911 on his phone, and an ambulance arrived minutes later, which took him to the hospital.

ā€œThey performed a full CT scan and thankfully there were no critical injuries discovered,ā€ West said. ā€œSo, the only injuries are bruises and scrapes and cuts and a very sore jaw,ā€ he said, adding that the head injuries have caused his husband to suffer migraine headaches.

West said he later visited the McDonaldā€™s and asked two supervisors if they would release to him a copy of the video surveillance camera images from their security cameras from the night of the attack. He said the two declined his request but said they were cooperating with the police investigation.

D.C. police officials have said investigators routinely obtain video camera footage from businesses or from city security cameras along public spaces such as parks or streets when investigating crimes.

Police have said anyone with information that could lead to the identification of the perpetrators involved in the crimes targeting Lascarro and Smith should contact police at 202-727-9096.

The GoFundMe pages for the two men are here:

https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-thomass-recovery-from-hate-crime

https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-bryan-smiths-medical-recovery

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Local

Alsobrooks leads Hogan in Md. Senate race: polls

Previewing regional races in Md., Va., Del.

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Democrat Angela Alsobrooks and Republican Larry Hogan are competing for a U.S. Senate seat that could determine control of the chamber. (Photos courtesy of the Baltimore Banner)

Polls indicate Prince Georgeā€™s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks is comfortably ahead of former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan in the race to succeed retiring U.S. Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.).

A Washington Post-University of Maryland poll conducted between Oct. 17-22 found Alsobrooks ahead of Hogan by a 52-40 percent margin. Alsobrooks, a Democrat, was ahead of her Republican rival by a 48-39 percent margin in a poll the University of Maryland Baltimore County conducted between Sept. 23-28.

Alsobrooks during an interview with the Washington Blade before she defeated Congressman David Trone in the May 14 primary said she supports the Equality Act. Alsobrooks also highlighted her support for Marylandā€™s marriage equality law that voters upheld in a 2012 referendum.

Hogan in 2018 signed a bill that banned so-called conversion therapy in Maryland. He criticized Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis over his stateā€™s ā€œDonā€™t Say Gayā€ law during a 2023 interview with CNNā€™s ā€œState of the Union.ā€

A bill that created the Commission on LGBTQ Affairs in the Governorā€™s Community Initiatives Office took effect in 2021 without Hoganā€™s signature. Hogan also did not sign a bill that banned the so-called LGBTQ panic defense in Maryland.

Hogan marched in this yearā€™s Annapolis Pride parade.

Campaign spokesperson Blake Kernan on Wednesday referred the Blade to the campaignā€™s final ad it released earlier in the day.

ā€œIā€™m not just another Republican,ā€ says Hogan. ā€œIā€™ll make your life more affordable, and support a womanā€™s right to choose.ā€

(video courtesy of hogan’s campaign)

Kernan defended Hoganā€™s record on LGBTQ rights in an article the Blade published on Aug. 7. Kernan in a May 22 statement criticized Alsobrooks over her comments about Hoganā€™s abortion rights record.

The Alsobrooks campaign on Tuesday told the Blade it is ā€œready to defend our Democratic Senate Majority, protect our freedoms, and fight for our families.ā€

ā€œAngela continues to travel across the state and can feel the enthusiasm and energy from all voters ā€” from young people concerned about the cost of living, women concerned about access to reproductive freedoms, seniors concerned about the cost of prescription drugs, and all Marylanders who want a future where their families can thrive,ā€ said the campaign in a statement. ā€œAngela is in this fight for every one of them, for every Marylander.” 

Democrat April McClain Delaney is running against former Maryland state Del. Neil Parrott (R-Washington County) in the race to succeed Trone in Marylandā€™s 6th Congressional District.

A Gonzales Research and Marketing Strategies poll conducted between Aug. 24-31 found Parrott ahead of Delaney by a 41-39 percent margin. A Public Opinion Strategies poll conducted between Aug. 6-11 found Delaney ahead of Parrott by a 42-40 percent margin.

Delaney, a former Commerce Department official who is married to former Maryland Congressman John Delaney, in her campaign ads has noted Parrott in 2005 said people who test positive for HIV should be tattooed. Parrott in 2014 led an unsuccessful effort to prompt a referendum on Marylandā€™s transgender rights law that then-Gov. Martin Oā€™Malley signed.

In Virginia, state Sen. Suhas Subramanyam (D-Loudoun County) is running against Republican Mike Clancy in the stateā€™s 10th Congressional District. The winner will succeed Congresswoman Jennifer Wexton, who announced last September she would not seek re-election after doctors diagnosed her with an aggressive form of Parkinsonā€™s disease.

ā€œWhen I think about who will best continue my legacy and deliver real results for us in Congress, I can think of no one better than state Sen. Suhas Subramanyam,ā€ said Wexton in an Oct. 16 press release in which she and former U.S. Rep. Barbara Comstock (R-Va.) endorsed Subramanyamā€™s campaign.

Democrat Eugene Vindman is running against Republican Derrick Anderson for outgoing Congresswoman Abigail Spanbergerā€™s seat in Virginiaā€™s 7th Congressional District.

Spanberger is running for governor in 2025.

In Delaware, state Sen. Sarah McBride is poised to become the first transgender person elected to Congress. Democratic Congresswoman Lisa Blunt Rochester is also likely to become the first Black person to represent Delaware in the U.S. Senate.

“There’s no one better to represent us in Washington, D.C., and in the United States Senate than Lisa Blunt Rochester,” said President Joe Biden in a recent endorsement.

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District of Columbia

46 known LGBTQ candidates running for D.C. ANC seats

32 running unopposed on ballot, 22 are incumbents

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Kent Boese continues in his role as director of the D.C. Office of Advisory Neighborhood Commissions. (Photo courtesy of Boese)

At least 46 known LGBTQ candidates are running for seats on the cityā€™s Advisory Neighborhood Commissions in the Nov. 5 D.C. election, with a half dozen or more LGBTQ candidates running in each of the cityā€™s wards except for Ward 3, where just two known LGBTQ candidates are running.

Among the 46 known LGBTQ candidates, 22 are incumbent ANC commissioners seeking re-election to another four-year term. The ANC Rainbow Caucus, which consists of LGBTQ ANC members, shows on its website it currently has 27 incumbent commissioners, most of whom are running for re-election.

That appears to indicate the percentage of LGBTQ ANC members seeking to run for re-election is greater than the percentage of the overall number of ANC members running for another term. According to reports by the Washington Post and other media outlets, many ANC members have chosen not to run for re-election this year, based in part on the stress that goes with the job

Under the D.C. Home Rule Charter, Advisory Neighborhood Commissioners serve as unpaid elected officials charged with making recommendations to the city government on a wide range of neighborhood issues, including the approval of liquor licenses for bars and restaurants and zoning regulations. City officials are required to give ā€œgreat weightā€ to the ANC recommendations, but government officials are not required to accept the recommendations.

The official list of ANC candidates on the D.C. election ballot released by the D.C. Board of Elections shows that 51 of the 345 ANC Single Member Districts, or SMDs, do not have a candidate running on the Nov. 5 election ballot. The Board of Elections has released a separate list of registered write-in candidates that includes several ANC candidates.

The Board of Elections list shows there are a far larger number of ANC single member districts in which a single candidate is running unopposed. Among the 46 LGBTQ ANC candidates, 32 have no opponent on the election ballot.

Gay ANC commissioner Vincent Slatt, who represents  the Dupont Circle ANC district 2B03, and who serves as chair of the ANC Rainbow Caucus, said ANC members face a considerable amount of stress.

ā€œANCs are volunteer, uncompensated positions that we do in addition to our day jobs,ā€ Slatt told the Washington Blade. ā€œThere is an extremely high turnover rate due to the lack of support we receive from the executive agencies, and the perception of our neighbors that we provide constituent services that our Council members provide,ā€ he said.

Slatt added that residents sometimes lack full understanding of the role of ANC members, which ā€œhas created a large amount of turnover, and the problem is getting worse.ā€

The Blade obtained its list of known LGBTQ ANC candidates in part from the ANC Rainbow Caucus, which compiled its own list of LGBTQ candidates, and from the LGBTQ Victory Fund, the national group that supports LGBTQ candidates for elective office, which released a list of 13 Victory Fund  ā€œapprovedā€ ANC candidates. The Blade obtained a few  additional names of LGBTQ ANC candidates not on the Rainbow Caucus or Victory Fund lists from people who knew the candidates.

Also, among the known LGBTQ ANC candidates, in just two single member districts, two LGBTQ candidates are running against each other. One is in district 1B03 in the Columbia Heights neighborhood in which J. Swiderski is challenging incumbent Jamie S. Sycamore.

The other is in district 2G01 in the Shaw neighborhood in which Howard Garrett, the recently elected president of the Capital Stonewall Democrats, D.C.ā€™s LGBTQ Democratic group, is running against community activist Parker Griffin. The two are competing for an ANC seat in which the incumbent is not running for re-election.

Similar to past election years, the largest number of known LGBTQ ANC candidates are running this year in districts in Ward 2, including the Dupont Circle, Logan Circle, and Shaw neighborhoods. However, more LGBTQ candidates this year are running in Wards 4, 5, and 8 than in past years. 

Gay former ANC commissioner Kent Boese, who until 2022 had represented the Ward 1 SMD in the Park View neighborhood, continues in his current role as director of the D.C. Office of Advisory Neighborhood Commissions, to which he was appointed in October 2022. Among his duties is to oversee fiscal and administrative operations of ANCs across the city.

Following is a list of the LGBTQ ANC candidates and the single member districts and neighborhoods in which they are running.

1A04 ā€“ (Columbia Heights)
Jeremy Sherman, he/him

1A07 ā€“ (Columbia Heights)
Mukta Ghorpadey, she/her

1A10 ā€“ (Columbia Heights)
Billy Easley, he/him

1B03 ā€“ (Columbia Heights/U Street)
J. Swiderski, they/he
Jamie S. Sycamore, he/him

1B06 ā€“ (Columbia Heights/Meridian Hill)
Miguel Trindade Deramo, he/him

1B07 ā€“ (U Street)
Matthew Holden, he/him

1D01 ā€“ (Mount Pleasant)
Jay Falk, she/her

1E01  ā€“ (Park View)
Brad Howard, he/him

1E07 ā€“ (Howard University/Pleasant Plains)
Brian Footer, he/him

2A05 ā€“ (Foggy Bottom)
Luke Chadwick, he/him

2B02 ā€“ (Dupont Circle)
Jeffrey Rueckgauer, he/him

2B03 ā€“ (Dupont Circle)
Vincent Slatt, he/him

2B09 ā€“ (Dupont Circle/U Street)
Christopher Davis, he/him

2C01 ā€“ (Penn Quarter)
Michael D. Shankle, he/him

2F05 ā€“ (Logan Circle)
Christopher Dyer, he/him

2F06 ā€“ (Logan Circle)
John Fanning, he/him

2F07 ā€“ (Logan Circle)
Kevin Cataldo, he/him

2G01 ā€“ (Shaw)
Parker Griffin, he/him
Howard Garrett, he/him

2G02 ā€“ (Shaw)
Alexander ā€˜Alexā€™ Padro, he/him

2G04 ā€“ (Shaw)
Steven McCarty, he/him

3B06 ā€“ (Wesley Heights)
S. Robert Rodriquez, he/him

3F05 ā€“ (Van Ness/Cleveland Park)
Adrian Jesus Iglesias, he/him

4B01 ā€“ (Takoma)
Doug Payton, he/him

4B10Ā  ā€“ (Lamond Riggs)
Jinin Berry, she/her

4C06 ā€“ (Petworth)
Christen Boss Hayes, they/them

4E02 ā€“ (16th Street Heights)
Vince Micone, he/him

5B02 ā€“ (Brookland)
Nandini Sen, she/her

5B04 ā€“ (Brookland)
Ra Amin, he/him

5B05 ā€“ (Brookland)
MĆ³nica MartĆ­nez LĆ³pez, she/her

5D05 ā€“ (Trinidad)
Salvador Sauceda-Guzman, he/him

5D06 ā€“ (Trinidad/Carver)
Charquinta (Char) McCray, she/her

5E05 ā€“ (Bloomingdale)
Tyler Lopez, he/him

5F06 ā€“ (Eckington)
Joe Bishop-Henchman, he/him 

6B03 ā€“ (Capitol Hill)
David Sobelsohn, he/him

6B09 ā€“ (Capitol Hill/Barney Circle)
Karen Hughes, she/her

7B05 ā€“ (Hillcrest)
Elizabeth Reddick, she/them

7C01 ā€“ (Deanwood)
Brian Glover, he/him

7C03 ā€“ (Lincoln Heights)
Carlos Richardson, he/him

7C08 ā€“ (Capitol View)
Brandon M. Scott, he/him

7E06 ā€“ (Benning Ridge)
Ravi K. Perry, he/him

8A01 ā€“ (Fairlawn)
Tom Donohue, he, him

8B05 ā€“ (Garfield Heights)
Marcus Thomas Hickman, he/him

8C08 ā€“ (Douglass)
Elizabeth Carter, she/her

8F04 ā€“ (Navy Yard)
Edward Daniels

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