ARLINGTON, VIRGINIA — Arlington County Commonwealth's Attorney Parisa Dehghani-Tafti moved to dismiss state charges against activist Barbara Wien over flyers that displayed White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller's home address, according to a court filing. Dehghani-Tafti said she reviewed the evidence and found no probable cause to charge Wien under the Virginia law that criminalizes the use of someone's identity or address to coerce, intimidate or harass.

Wien, a former college professor and longtime political activist in Arlington, distributed flyers in August and September that depicted Miller on a "Wanted" poster for "crimes against humanity" and listed his Arlington address. The flyers included a QR code urging recipients to petition Congress to investigate Miller's actions. A second flyer circulated in the neighborhood referred to Miller as "the alt-right extremist behind Trump's most abhorrent policies, Project 2025 and your new neighbor in Arlington, Va."

In her filing, Dehghani-Tafti noted that the wanted flyer did not call for any action at or near Miller's residence or any action by viewers against him. She wrote that the sole call to action in the wanted flyer was to petition Congress based on the flyer's allegations.

Katie Miller reported the flyers to the Arlington County Police Department on August 4, telling officers that the listing of the family's home address violated state law. She told police she saw Wien walk by once while she was on her porch and that Wien made a gesture which seemed to convey "I'm watching you." The Miller family moved out of their home and into military housing shortly after the flyers were distributed.

Court filings cited an April 2025 message from a phone associated with Wien that stated: "My Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ) chapter in N. Virginia intends to make his life hell. We have set up a carefully vetted Signal group. Let me know if you are interested in being a part of our campaign." Another image sent from a phone associated with Wien read: "Got a message for Stephen Miller? Come (peacefully) CHALK IT OUT on the sidewalks of his neighborhood."

Dehghani-Tafti asked the court to order the Virginia State Police to destroy records obtained from the search of Wien's phone and to require custodians of those records to attest they were not shared with any outside agency. A state judge previously prohibited local investigators from sharing data collected from the phone with any entity other than the Commonwealth Attorney's Office.

Dehghani-Tafti said efforts by the FBI and Secret Service to accompany state police on the search warrant raised concerns about federal authorities using the Commonwealth, the court, and the Virginia State Police to further a federal investigation without demonstrating wrongdoing. A federal magistrate judge twice rejected the FBI's attempt to obtain a search warrant for Wien's phone. No federal charges have been filed against Wien to date.