Photo by Don Baxter DC.

By the time eight D.C. voting rights activists actually go on trial, it will have been a full seven months since they were arrested in a series of protests on Capitol Hill. Seven months.

Today, the trial of the eight — seven arrested during an April 11 protest, one detained four days later — was postponed until November 15 over disagreements over the use of evidence by the prosecution.

During a morning hearing, a D.C. prosecutor attempted to introduce a 30-minute video clip and 152 photographs of the April 11 protest, provoking objections from four defense lawyers, who argued that they had not been given an opportunity to see either before today. (The Capitol Police failed to provide the evidence when first asked earlier this summer, according to defense attorneys. Judge Robert Morin criticized the police for “discovery violations” during today’s hearing.)

The eight face misdemeanor charges of “Failure to Obey a Lawful Order” or “Disorderly Conduct – Blocking Passage,” stemming from the two protests where 44 people were arrested. The majority of those arrested paid a fine, while the remaining eight — Eugene Kinlow, Robert Brannum, Jack Evans, Deangelo Scott, Lawrence Harris, Anise Jenkins, Adam Maier and Michael Brown — opted for trial. Keith Silver, an ANC commissioner who was arrested at a third protest, also chose to face a judge; his trial was similarly continued last week until November.

Even though the trials were put off for another two months, defense attorneys teased out their possible defense strategies. Mark Goldstone, a First Amendment lawyer representing Jenkins, hinted that he would argue that the protesters were engaged in lawful conduct and were improperly arrested. Other attorneys additionally noted that they might argue that the protesters blocked traffic out of necessity — since they lack voting representation, getting arrested was their only recourse to make claims before Congress. The defense said it would call a number of witnesses, including D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton.

One of the attorneys did not discount asking for the charges to be dismissed altogether over the delays in acquiring the video and photographs taken by the Capitol Police during the protests.