Dr. Patricia Wonch Hill of Lincoln, Neb., was found guilty on May 21 of vandalizing the Old Town home of Chris Cox, the longtime chief lobbyist for the National Rifle Association. Hill sprayed fake blood on Cox’s home on Jan. 11, and was charged with a $500 fine, was ordered to stay 500 feet from the home and also an interior design business owned by his wife Courtney Cox. Hill was also ordered to keep the same distance from NRA headquarters in Fairfax or face an additional $500 fine.
Hill, who appealed the decision to the Alexandria Circuit Court, has another hearing on May 30 for allegedly vandalizing the Cox’s home last October with stickers and fake blood.
Hill, an associate professor of sociology at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, is a member of the group Nebraskans Against Gun Violence, which had a representative and another gun control advocate protest outside the Cox home and Courtney Cox’s business on April 10. The protestors, Amanda Gailey of Lincoln, Neb., and Catherine Koebel Stromberg of Roanoke, Va., later filed a police report after Courtney Cox allegedly scratched Stromberg’s hand by taking away her cell phone when Stromberg tried to film a brief encounter.
Hill’s appeal is on June 6, and a civil case on the restraining order will be heard in August.