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aGameOfThrones
07-19-2012, 04:55 AM
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — An Oregon man who stripped nude at Portland's airport security to protest what he saw as invasive measures was found not guilty of indecent exposure.


Multnomah County Circuit Court Judge David Rees ruled Wednesday that John Brennan's act was one of protest and therefore, protected speech.

Multnomah County Deputy District Attorney Joel Petersen argued that Brennan's strip-down was an act of indecent exposure.

"I was aware of the irony of removing my clothes to protect my privacy," Brennan said from the witness stand on Wednesday.


When he reached the gate, he declined to go through the airport's body scanners, instead choosing the alternative metal detector and body pat-down. After the pat-down, Transportation Security Administration officer Steven Van Gordon detected nitrates on the gloves he used to check Brennan.

"For me, time slowed down," Brennan said. "I thought about nitrates and I thought about the Oklahoma City bombing."

Brennan said before his trial that after months of angst every time he went through security, the nitrate detection was the final straw for him, a wordless accusation that he was a terrorist.

So he took off all his clothes.

Brennan, 50, demanded a jury trial in early May, but was turned down.

Brennan insists he didn't come to the airport intending to protest. He had called the Port of Portland — which operates the airport — a year earlier to ask whether Oregon's rules involving nudity applied at the airport. Brennan said he was told that they did. Brennan said in court that he asked because he had considered nudity as an act of protest, but hadn't found cause to strip down.

The law says that naked people are only breaking the law if they're having sex in public or got undressed "with the intent of arousing the sexual desire" of another person.

But if Brennan truly was acting in protest, Petersen asked, then couldn't anyone be arrested while naked make the same claim?

"Any person naked for any purpose will be able to say it was protected speech," Petersen said.




http://news.yahoo.com/judge-man-stripped-nude-airport-not-guilty-224222940.html

presence
07-19-2012, 06:42 AM
woot!

QuickZ06
07-19-2012, 06:58 AM
Sweet, now lets all get naked!

fisharmor
07-19-2012, 06:59 AM
"Any person naked for any purpose will be able to say it was protected speech," Petersen said.
OMG the legal system is going to collapse becaue he can be legally NAKED!!!!

Witness the utter and abject failure to recognize that THE WHOLE REASON HE WAS NAKED IS BECAUSE YOU WERE FUCKING WITH HIM.

It's dead simple, you fucking morons: stop treating people like cattle, and we can go back to treating indecent exposure as indecent.

Bern
07-19-2012, 08:08 AM
Sometimes justice is served.

Acala
07-19-2012, 08:59 AM
Resistance is Fertile

jmdrake
07-19-2012, 09:20 AM
Resistance is Fertile

You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to Acala again.

Could this be the new Rosa Parks? Imagine if significant numbers of people took up this form of protest systematically. It could shut the entire system down.

fisharmor
07-19-2012, 10:21 AM
Sometimes justice is served.

No, sorry, this is not justice.
When someone has to hire a lawyer and empty his bank accounts in order to prevent the state from throwing him in prison for a non-crime, how the hell is that justice, exactly?
I guarantee you this guy is a lot poorer now that he's been through all of this.
The state doesn't give a shit whether or not people end up in jail.
Ruining them is enough.

Justice is awarding this man the assets of the people who tried to ruin him, and making sure he ends up better off than he was before.
Anything else is a win for the state.

jbauer
07-19-2012, 11:20 AM
What gives you that idea? It would speed up the strip searches. No need to go to a "private" room.


You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to Acala again.

Could this be the new Rosa Parks? Imagine if significant numbers of people took up this form of protest systematically. It could shut the entire system down.

Barrex
07-19-2012, 11:27 AM
I see where this is going:
http://img.chan4chan.com/img/2010-05-13/1273783385626.jpg

still less gay than twilight

Anti Federalist
07-19-2012, 11:33 AM
No, sorry, this is not justice.
When someone has to hire a lawyer and empty his bank accounts in order to prevent the state from throwing him in prison for a non-crime, how the hell is that justice, exactly?
I guarantee you this guy is a lot poorer now that he's been through all of this.
The state doesn't give a shit whether or not people end up in jail.
Ruining them is enough.

Justice is awarding this man the assets of the people who tried to ruin him, and making sure he ends up better off than he was before.
Anything else is a win for the state.

Yes this.

It really is justice only if you are made whole again.

jmdrake
07-19-2012, 12:10 PM
What gives you that idea? It would speed up the strip searches. No need to go to a "private" room.

Because most of the "decent" people who've decided they don't mind the naked body searches would decide not to fly if they had to look at other naked passengers themselves. Little Susie can be molested by the TSA, but little Susie can't see Johnny's Jimmy.

jbauer
07-19-2012, 01:49 PM
Because most of the "decent" people who've decided they don't mind the naked body searches would decide not to fly if they had to look at other naked passengers themselves. Little Susie can be molested by the TSA, but little Susie can't see Johnny's Jimmy.

Na, the people that are flying now don't mind the searches. The people that do have already quit flying.

DamianTV
07-19-2012, 03:13 PM
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/18/john-brennan-man-who-stri_n_1684381.html


PORTLAND, Ore. — An Oregon man who stripped nude at Portland's airport security to protest what he saw as invasive measures was found not guilty of indecent exposure.

Multnomah County Circuit Court Judge David Rees ruled Wednesday that John Brennan's act was one of protest and therefore, protected speech.

Multnomah County Deputy District Attorney Joel Petersen argued that Brennan's strip-down was an act of indecent exposure.

"I was aware of the irony of removing my clothes to protect my privacy," Brennan said from the witness stand on Wednesday.

On April 17, Brennan arrived at the airport intending to take a business trip to San Jose, Calif. He works with groups in Silicon Valley and flies out of Portland International Airport about once a month.

When he reached the gate, he declined to go through the airport's body scanners, instead choosing the alternative metal detector and body pat-down. After the pat-down, Transportation Security Administration officer Steven Van Gordon detected nitrates on the gloves he used to check Brennan.

"For me, time slowed down," Brennan said. "I thought about nitrates and I thought about the Oklahoma City bombing."

Brennan said before his trial that after months of angst every time he went through security, the nitrate detection was the final straw for him, a wordless accusation that he was a terrorist.

So he took off all his clothes.

A TSA agent stacked plastic crates high onto several carts and positioned them around Brennan. Port of Portland police arrested Brennan and took him to the Multnomah County Jail.

Brennan, 50, demanded a jury trial in early May, but was turned down.

Brennan insists he didn't come to the airport intending to protest. He had called the Port of Portland – which operates the airport – a year earlier to ask whether Oregon's rules involving nudity applied at the airport. Brennan said he was told that they did. Brennan said in court that he asked because he had considered nudity as an act of protest, but hadn't found cause to strip down.

The law says that naked people are only breaking the law if they're having sex in public or got undressed "with the intent of arousing the sexual desire" of another person.

But if Brennan truly was acting in protest, Petersen asked, then couldn't anyone be arrested while naked make the same claim?

"Any person naked for any purpose will be able to say it was protected speech," Petersen said.

Portland would be an interesting test case for such a question. After all, this is the city with the World Naked Bike Ride, before which police simply send out a light admonition to "all riders at least wear a helmet and shoes."

As Brennan left the stand Wednesday, he said that his protest was also intended to give the TSA an idea of the effect its policies had on travelers, especially the body-scanners that produce images of passengers without clothes on.

"I wanted to show them it's a two-way street," he said. "I don't like a naked picture of me being available."


Let me reiterate the important bit.


...

Brennan, 50, demanded a jury trial in early May, but was turned down.

...

What this boils down to is that the Government is aware that its actions are not endorsed by the public, so they simply deny the Rights of the Person in order to avoid truly violating the Rights of the Masses. Of course, it can go much much deeper...

jmdrake
07-19-2012, 03:50 PM
Na, the people that are flying now don't mind the searches. The people that do have already quit flying.

I'm not talking about searches. Sure they don't mind the searches, but many of them would mind seeing a bunch of naked people at the airport.

Eisenhower
07-19-2012, 04:42 PM
this reminds me of that king of the hill episode with the hippies LOL

Aratus
07-19-2012, 04:53 PM
I see where this is going:
http://img.chan4chan.com/img/2010-05-13/1273783385626.jpg

still less gay than twilight

how can they tell the difference between freedom of speech and public nudity being simply indecent?