A giggling Onyango Obama — the president’s illegal alien half uncle — made a brief appearance in Framingham District Court today on charges he was drunk when he nearly struck an unmarked police cruiser last month. Obama, 67, was visibly amused at the media spectacle, stifling laughter several times before his 30-second court appearance where a judge set a Nov. 17 pre-trial conference.
Obama did not acknowledge a Herald reporter’s question upon arrival at Framingham District Court and neither he nor his lawyer made any comment on his way out where they were followed to the parking lot by a horde of media.
His attorney, P. Scott Bratton, did, however, tell the Herald that Obama, who has been living illegally in the United States for nearly 20 years, has returned to work at Conti Liquors in Framingham.
“He has. He’s doing well,” Bratton said.
Obama was accompanied in court today by two attorneys and an unidentified male supporter. He and his friend giggled in the front row of the court at the media assembled for the hearing. The courtroom was packed, but mostly with other defendants hauled in for the usual round of arraignments at the county court located in suburban Boston.
Onyango, who had a valid driver’s license and Social Security card when he was arrested last month, was in the U.S. illegally having already faced a 1992 deportation order. Immigration officials have ordered him to “check in” with them.
When he was arrested by Framingham police on suspicion of drunken driving Aug. 24, he suggested his first call should be to the White House. A spokesman for the president told the Herald that call was never made. He actually called his boss at Conti’s Liquors.
Middlesex District Attorney Gerard T. Leone has also vowed to prosecute Obama to the fullest extent possible on the OUI charge.
