Politik Sentenced

JESS MASULLI

On April 26, 2007, Reed Pannell waited in the General District Court of Fredericksburg to hear the final verdict for Andrew Jefferson Stone, charged with three counts of assault and battery, a class one misdemeanor.  Stone turned to Pannell and the two other victims and winked.
“He knew he was getting the weaker sentence,” stated Pannell, a senior.  Stone was found guilty of two counts of assault.  Instead of the 30 days in jail he was sentenced to, he had to do 50 hours of community service and take an anger management course.
According to the court records, there was also $125.00 and $186.00 that was paid on May 5, 2007.
The entire situation began on February 17, 2007 when Stone, a 2006 graduate of Mary Washington, compiled a list of College Republicans from Facebook.
With the list and their addresses, he began going to the houses, confronting the student’s about the War in Iraq and why they were not fighting in it.
The second house he visited was where Reed Pannell, Matt Long, and Matt Kastrinsky, a junior, lived on Marye Street.  Stone, with brochures and other military recruiting tactics, aggressively challenged the students on why they were not fighting in the war.
A fistfight ensued after Long pushed Stone to get him out of the house.  The night ended with Stone being arrested.
Stoned stated, “My quotes in Mike Zit’s Free Lance-Star article are a clear representation of how I view my actions and the events that followed.”
Stone was quoted in Mike Zit’s article saying, “I’d rather not hurt the label of any political persuasion that my opinions may relate to by identifying too closely with it.”
Stone declined to comment any further.  Both Pannell and another victim, Matt Long, a senior, agreed that the sentence was too easy.
“I am just hoping he realizes how ridiculous it is to go door to door like that over politics,” said Long.
“I am not satisfied with the way this turned out,” said Pannell, “He should have been punished more severely because of all the sick things he said online and to people.”
A blog article by Michelle Malkin posted some of these things Stone said to people on Facebook, many being of racist and hateful nature.
Stone’s Facebook had posts on it such as “I’m as WASPish as they come, but goddamn, God Bless Iran, and may this bastard state be wiped from the map.”
He also started a Facebook group called Republicans are Cowards in which the description said, “Face it, GOP is the party of the cowardly.  And all f*ing cowards will f*ing hang.  Also, when they aren’t wetting their pants over a code-red alert from George, Republicans are actively f*ing little boys.” Stone’s Facebook no longer has offensive remarks and does not show his political views.
Pannell made slight changes to his Facebook account as well.  He no longer posts his address as public.
“It’s scary, but this is a fact of life,” he said.
Long said the information was found on Pannell’s Facebook so he himself did not need to take any information down.
Pannell and Long have only had contact with Stone once since the April 26 court date.  Pannell describes the run-in, which occurred a month ago at a good friend’s party, as less than friendly.
“I ran into him at a party,” said Long.  “I don’t think he recognized who I was at first.  He left once he realized who I was.”
“Everyone kicked him out.  He is not welcome near us,” stated Pannell.
Stone resides in Vienna, Va. with his brother.
“I do various office work during the day and manage a pizza place at night,“ Stone said.