- 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.
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- According to the criminal complaint filed on 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.
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- "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.
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- 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.
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- 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.
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- "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.
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- 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.
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- Calls to the Guilderland police and district attorney,
Anthony Cardona and to officials at the mall were not returned for comment.
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- Downs is due back in court for a hearing on March 17.
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- He could face up to a year in prison if convicted.
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- Copyright 2003 Reuters News Service. All rights reserved.
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