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.