Theos-Talk Archives (March 2003 Message tt00088)

In fairness, it should be said that the fellow was on private 
property when he was arrested, and he was arrested for refusing to 
leave when asked, not for wearing a T-shirt.

--- In theos-talk@yahoogroups.com, Theo Paijmans <th.paijmans@w...> 
wrote:
> NEW YORK (Reuters) -- A lawyer was arrested late Monday and charged 
with
> trespassing at a public mall in the state of New York after 
refusing to take off a
> T-shirt advocating peace that he had just purchased at the mall.
> 
> According to the criminal complaint filed Monday, Stephen Downs was 
wearing a
> T-shirt bearing the words "Give Peace A Chance" that he had just 
purchased from a
> vendor inside the Crossgates Mall in Guilderland, New York, near 
Albany.
> 
> "I was in the food court with my son when I was confronted by two 
security guards
> and ordered to either take off the T-shirt or leave the mall," said 
Downs.
> 
> When Downs refused the security officers' orders, police from the 
town of
> Guilderland were called and he was arrested and taken away in 
handcuffs, charged
> with trespassing "in that he knowingly enter(ed) or remain(ed) 
unlawfully upon
> premises," the complaint read.
> 
> Downs said police tried to convince him he was wrong in his actions 
by refusing to
> remove the T-shirt because the mall "was like a private house and 
that I was acting
> poorly.
> 
> "I told them the analogy was not good and I was then hauled off to 
night court
> where I was arraigned after pleading not guilty and released on my 
own
> recognizance," Downs told Reuters in a telephone interview.
> 
> Downs is the director of the Albany Office of the state Commission 
on Judicial
> Conduct, which investigates complaints of misconduct against judges 
and can
> admonish, censure or remove judges found to have engaged in 
misconduct.
> 
> Calls to the Guilderland police and district attorney, Anthony 
Cardona and to
> officials at the mall were not returned for comment.
> 
> Downs is due back in court for a hearing on March 17.
> 
> He could face up to a year in prison if convicted.