Updated June 13, 2014 at 4:45 p.m.
A court in nearby Fairfax County, Va. convicted a former student and avid gun rights activist of drug and gun charges on Thursday.
Adam Kokesh, who attended the Graduate School of Political Management, was arrested in his Herndon, Va. home last July after he posted a YouTube video of himself loading a gun in D.C.’s Freedom Plaza. Kokesh admitted that there was enough evidence to convict him, but said he was “singled out for political purposes.”
He was convicted on two felony charges tied to possession of hallucinogenic mushrooms while possessing a gun, the Washington Post reported. Prosecutors said police found 10 guns and a range of drugs – LSD, hallucinogenic mushrooms, cocaine and marijuana – when they raided his home last year.
Kokesh had been on probation in D.C. since January, when he pleaded guilty to a number of gun charges related to the July 4 incident in Freedom Plaza last year.
Now facing up to 15 years in prison, Kokesh is scheduled for sentencing in September.
An Iraq War veteran, Kokesh has drawn attention for his anti-war activism and libertarian statements against the federal government. Kokesh also planned an event in May 2013 calling for 1,000 gun-slinging demonstrators to join him in a peaceful march into D.C. as an act of “civil disobedience.” He later cancelled the event.
In 2010, Kokesh unsuccessfully campaigned for New Mexico’s 3rd Congressional District seat.
He was also part of a group that posted misleading posters across campus in 2007 in opposition to a Young America’s Foundation event marking “Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week.”
Kokesh also runs a YouTube channel, “Adam vs. The Man,” where he discusses gun rights and other libertarian causes.
This post was updated to reflect the following correction:
The Hatchet incorrectly reported that Adam Kokesh was an alumnus. He attended the Graduate School of Political Management but did not graduate. We regret this error.
