| Libertarian's gun case goes to jury Senate candidate says he put loaded gun in holster during rally to make a point By Charlie Brennan,News Staff Writer Jurors start deliberating today in Libertarian Senate candidate Rick Stanley's trial for openly carrying a gun in defiance of a Denver city ordinance, but they're not exactly faced with a whodunnit. Stanley, owner of Denver's Stanley Fastener & Shop Supply, removed much of the suspense Wednesday when he testified toward the end of his 1 hour, 45 minute trial in Denver County Court. Stanley admitted to the jury of five women and one man that he put a loaded Beretta .380 caliber semiautomatic handgun in his holster during a Dec. 15 rally at a downtown Denver park. The rally marked the 210th birthday of the Bill of Rights, and Stanley said he wanted "to bring attention to a bad law that needs to be overturned." Stanley also testified he wanted "to obtain standing, so that I can take it up through the court system, if we don't get this resolved (at trial) in favor of we, the people." Stanley says the Denver ordinance contradicts the Colorado Constitution and the Second Amendment, which he sats grant permission to openly carry a deadly weapon. Stanley, who has pleaded innocent to the misdemeanor charge, which could bring a year in jail and a $999 fine, offered jurors a second reason for carrying a gun. As a candidate for the U.S. Senate, whose controversial views have riled many inside and outside the Libertarian Party, Stanley testified: "For the past year, I have been receiving threats over the Internet," adding that people using "five or six different monikers" had been harassing and threatening him. In the week before the rally in a park at 1440 Lincoln St., Stanley testified, one of those people wrote that "He and I were going to introduce ourselves to one another" at the demonstration. Asked by his attorney, Paul Grant, how he interpreted that message, Stanley said, "A threat." Stanley's trial occurs against the backdrop of a political campaign in which he has invested $10,000. He hopes to secure the Libertarian nomination to oppose U.S. Sen. Wayne Allard and likely Democratic challenger Tom Strickland this fall. Only last month, Colorado Springs software engineer Steve D'Ippolito was pressed into the fray by Libertarians alarmed over Stanley's comments that some judge too extreme. Among them is Stanley's contention that Allard should be tried for treason -- and hung, if found guilty -- for voting to pass the Patriot Act in response to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11. Sandra Johnson, who garnered 22,000 votes as the Libertarian candidate for governor in 1998, said many Libertarians oppose Stanley because, "We don't want to be seen as the lunatic fringe." The Libertarians will gather in Leadville Friday through Sunday to choose between Stanley and D'Ippolito, as well as other candidates for statewide office.
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That idiot is really hungry for attention.