air quality and historic preservation. In February 2009, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar shelved 77 disputed lease parcels – including some on which DeChristopher had bid in 2008 — and criticized Bush administrators for conducting a "rush review" of the contested lands. DeChristopher has expressed the need for similar tactics to end mountaintop removal mining in his home state of West Virginia. In 2013, he and numerous other celebrities appeared in a video showing support for Chelsea Manning, and DeChristopher spoke in the University of Vermont's Ira Allen Chapel. In a 2014 climate change protest on Wall Street, DeChristopher expressed his view that "[b]eing serious about tackling the climate crisis means we have to be willing to confront corporate capitalism and the system that is driving that crisis." After his release from jail in 2013, DeChristopher attended Harvard Divinity School and obtained a graduate degree. He settled with his family in Rhode Island. DeChristopher is a founder of the Climate Disobedience Center which provides advice and assistance to climate activists engaged in civil disobedience. He participated in the No Coal, No Gas direct action campaign to hasten the end of fossil fuel usage in New England. DeChristopher advocates for non-violent direct action to address environmental issues. Trial In a 2009 indictment DeChristopher was charged with two felonies: violations of the Federal Onshore Oil and Gas Leasing Reform Act and making false statements. He faced a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and $750,000 in fines. DeChristopher's defense team sought to rely on a necessity defense, which required proof that DeChristopher was forced to choose between two evils and that his actions resulted in the lesser of the two to avoid imminent harm where no legal alternative was available. U.S. District Judge Dee Benson prohibited the defense, precluding any evidence that might have supported it. The court also barred evidence that the lease auction was deemed unlawful, that DeChristopher had raised sufficient funds for an initial payment to the BLM (which the BLM refused to accept), or that DeChristopher's motives were grounded in moral convictions related to climate change. Prosecutor John W. Huber told the media that DeChristopher was looking for "a prominent venue for his global-warming show — a platform from which he could educate the masses," and asserted that DeChristopher had overlooked legal methods of protest. DeChristopher responded in court to the assertion that he could have filed written