Local News in Brief : Man Seized at Rally for Bush to Be Arraigned
Aman arrested at a George Bush campaign rally after dropping a starter pistol that fires blanks was indicted by a federal grand jury Tuesday on one count of disorderly conduct in a place protected by Secret Service agents.
John A. Junot, 40, of Echo Park, a secretary at a legal aid firm, faces a maximum penalty of 6 months in prison and a $5,000 fine if convicted of the single misdemeanor count. He is scheduled for arraignment Monday.
Junot was arrested by police Nov. 6 at Warner Park in Woodland Hills moments after dropping a starter pistol about 40 yards from where the vice president was giving a speech.
A federal magistrate ordered Junot released Nov. 10 on $20,000 bond, rejecting assertions by prosecutor Julie Blackshaw that he posed a danger to society.
Court documents showed that Junot apparently planned for several weeks to bring the pistol to the rally.
Blackshaw had contended that Junot should be jailed because he had admitted wounding his girlfriend in a stabbing attack and had plotted to bomb the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant in 1982.
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