The trial of Renea Gamble had been underway for almost two hours when Marcus McDowell, the city attorney of Fairhope, Alabama, called a surprise witness.
“I call the gentleman in the red shirt,” he said, pointing toward a long-haired man in the second row. It took a moment to realize that he was referring to Gamble’s husband, 63-year-old Larry Fletcher.
Gamble’s defense attorney objected. He’d received no advance notice. But Fletcher shrugged and made his way forward.
Fletcher was with his wife when she was arrested at a No Kings protest in October 2025. She was wearing a 7-foot-tall inflatable penis costume and holding a sign that read “No Dick Tator.” Video of the incident went viral, turning Gamble into a minor celebrity and local free speech icon. Most people assumed the city would eventually drop the misdemeanor charges filed against her. Instead, McDowell added more, including giving a false name to law enforcement for identifying herself as “Aunt Tifa.”
Fletcher wore black Levi’s and a collared shirt with a Ferrari logo – a nod to his work rebuilding fuel injection systems for high-end cars. Sitting in the front row, Gamble looked a bit stricken watching the man she’d known since her childhood in Baton Rouge. “I know what she was thinking,” Fletcher later said. “She’s like, ‘Oh man, this could go out of control real easy.’”
McDowell asked Fletcher if he’d gone to bail his wife out of jail after her arrest. Yes, Fletcher said.
Did he make any statements to any of the jailers? Fletcher wasn’t sure. McDowell motioned toward one of the many law enforcement officers standing on the side of the room and asked if he looked familiar. Fletcher said he’d seen him around.
McDowell cut to the chase: Did Fletcher remember telling this man that he had gone to get bail money the day before the protest?
His objective was suddenly clear: The city attorney was suggesting that Gamble had gotten arrested on purpose.
If this was meant as a gotcha, things didn’t go as intended.
“I always make sure I have bail money!” Fletcher replied emphatically, as if this should be the most obvious thing in the world.
Did he have bail money on him now?
“Yeah!” Fletcher exclaimed, then gestured broadly. “With this many cops around? Come on.”
The room erupted with laughter. Moments later, Fletcher was back in his seat. Gamble reached back and held his hand.
The dirty pigs tried to intimidate her in the courtroom, too:
Dude-bro really thought he was the morality police. Fuckin’ scumbag.
“I’m not trying to violate your free speech” is not a magic phrase to to turn infringements on free speech into non-infringements.
“I’m not racist, but…”
He wasn’t trying, he was succeeding.
“I’m effortlessly violating your free speech”
If “I’m not trying to violate your first amendment rights” works, then shouting “I’m not trying to assault a police officer or resist arrest!” Whilst doing both those things should let you off the hook. Lmao
(Sigh) Yadda-yadda it’s just more of the same “…protects but does not bind, binds but does not protect” in action…SSDD…
Yeah they lied and said she was a traffic hazard, that it had nothing to do with the costume. They lied about calling for backup. They lied about escalating the situation. They threw her to the ground and squeezed the cuffs on her (arthritic) hands tightly so she cried out. She’s an ASL interpreter, her hands are her business.
I hope she sues the fuck out of them.
It’s a play on words. Dick-Tator. Get it?
Same energy as “No offense but [extremely offensive thing]”
Do these stupid fucks really think kids don’t know what a penis is? Roughly half of humans have one!
“Dick is another name for penis” is not a difficult explanation lmao
“But that’s a shameful no-no thing we pretend doesn’t exist :(”
–Alabama, probably.
I wonder how this cop would explain to his kids why he was trying to undress a woman in broad daylight- a woman he didn’t person know.