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Charge dismissed against activist Debby Hanrahan
(Published January 10, 2005)

A D.C. Superior Court judge has dismissed an unlawful entry charge against a local civic activist who was arrested last fall for holding up a protest sign during a Major League Baseball rally at Union Station.

The case against Dupont Circle resident Deborah B. Hanrahan was dropped during a Jan. 7 court hearing after the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia decided against going forward with Hanrahan's prosecution on the misdemeanor charge.

Hanrahan, 65, maintained that she had done nothing wrong and was demanding trial by jury on the charge. She was arrested Nov. 22 and held overnight in the D.C. Jail after she refused to identify herself or produce identification documents for an Amtrak Police officer who had taken her outside Union Station for refusing to comply with his request that she put down her protest sign.

Hanrahan's sign was opposing the public financing of a new baseball stadium for the Washington Nationals during a rally at which baseball officials were unveiling the new name for the former Montreal Expos baseball club.

Hanrahan and her attorney, Paul Riley, told The Common Denominator that she now is considering filing a civil lawsuit for unlawful arrest, seeking a court declaration that the First Amendment applies to Union Station as a public place.

Until the case against her was dismissed, Hanrahan also was under court order to stay away from Union Station. The building, which contains Washington's Amtrak rail station, is owned by the federal government but leased to the quasi-public Union Station Redevelopment Corp., whose board is appointed by the government and includes government representatives.

"We have a Bill of Rights that defends people against government violations. … They cannot evade the First Amendment by calling themselves 'private,'" Riley said. "Little by little, the zone of activity protected by the Constitution is narrowed if you can't speak out at Union Station, if you can't speak out at malls, et cetera."