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NEWPORT BEACH (CNS) - A Newport Beach man charged with brandishing a gun at a Black Lives Matter protest in the summer of 2020 was granted a request today to enroll a pretrial diversion program and if he stays out of trouble will have his case dismissed.
Travis Patrick White is charged with drawing, exhibiting or using a firearm or deadly weapon capable of being concealed, carrying a loaded firearm on person in a public place and carrying a concealed firearm, all misdemeanors.
A status review hearing is scheduled for Sept. 16. White is due to complete the program March 20, 2023.
Orange County Superior Court Judge John S. Adams granted the request for the pretrial diversion program. Prosecutors objected.
The move essentially delays the case for a year, White's attorney, Mark Fredrick, said.
``He has to enroll anger management and gun safety courses, and if he comes back with no new law violations the case will be dismissed,'' Fredrick said. ``I think it's a just outcome in the case.
``The guy has suffered greatly. For a guy who never made any mistake until this incident, which is totally out of character for him, he was harassed to the point that he had to move out of his house and he lost three jobs.''
White had a routine to take a swim in the ocean on his lunch break and head back to work, Fredrick said.
On the day of the incident June 4, 2020, he brought a gun with him, Fredrick said.
White hollered at Black Lives Matter protesters at a demonstration, exchanging words with an activist who confronted him about alleged slurs he was making, the Orange County District Attorney's Office said when he was charged.
White pulled out a loaded gun from his backpack, cocked and pointed it toward the sky, prosecutors said.
Fredrick said his client showed the weapon to scare off the protesters when he was being changed by the activists he exchanged words with.