On Derek's Trial
For background, see the previous post.
Some of you have told me you won’t come because you can’t get behind what Derek did. I want to take that seriously rather than argue you out of it, because I don’t think you have to get behind it to be in that room.
A courtroom gallery is not a jury box. Sitting in it says one thing: that a man is not going to face the state alone. It doesn’t say what he did was a good idea. You can think he chose the wrong tactic — that it handed our opponents an easy story, that it cost more than it bought — and still believe he shouldn’t stand there with empty benches behind him.
Here is what I’d ask you to weigh. Nobody was hurt. He repaired what he damaged. Whatever else is true, this was a property offense committed in a season when a great many people were frightened and furious, and he has already answered for the material part of it. What’s left is the state’s judgment on the man.
I’d also ask you to notice how you’re actually deciding. If the objection is to the act, that’s a reasoned position and I respect it. But if it’s that the act was unbecoming — too crude, too embarrassing, not the kind of thing our people do — that’s a different objection, and worth being honest with yourself about.
Movements that only stand by their tidy members don’t stand by anyone for long.
If you can’t be there, there are other ways to support Derek: a letter to the court, a contribution to his defense. Presence is not the only currency. But if you can be there, be there. Attendance is free, it’s lawful, it’s visible, and it is one of the few things an ordinary person can put in front of a judge that costs the government something to ignore.
Derek has shown up for people in this community for years. This is a morning of your time.
Derek and JoAnn when they operated a vegan bar.
TIME:
Trial starts tomorrow morning, Monday 7/13/26 at 8:30 am and is expected to continue till Friday.
LOCATION:
Fayette Circuit Court, Courtroom D, 2nd floor
120 N. Limestone at Main, Lexington
PARKING:
Parking garage on Barr Street, beside the District Courthouse; an underground tunnel connects to 120 N. Limestone.
Metered street parking nearby.
Library lot across the street
Sit anywhere in the gallery. No signs, no shirts, nothing that gives anyone a reason to clear the room. Just people.