RECRUITMENT-Office Protest

[number6]

CAMILLE DODERO

http://www.bostonphoenix.com/boston/news_features/this_just_in/documents/03885837.asp

It was a skinny pair of stereo wires that got 21-year-old Joe Previtera charged with two felonies. A week ago on Wednesday, the Boston College student poked his head through a gauzy shawl, donned a black pointy hood, and ascended a milk crate positioned to the right of the Armed Forces Recruitment Center’s Tremont Street entrance. He extended his arms like a tired scarecrow; stereo wires dangled from his fingers onto the ground below. Without those wires, the Westwood native could have been mistaken for an eyeless Klansman dipped in black, or maybe even the Wicked Witch of the West. But those snaky cords made the costume’s import clear: Previtera was a dead ringer for one of Abu Ghraib’s Iraqi prisoners — specifically, the faceless man who’d allegedly been forced to balance on a cardboard box lest he be electrocuted.

snipp ..(notice how they try to make this into a bomb incident)

So if Previtera didn’t mention a bomb, what exactly constitutes a bomb threat? "It can be implied, with fingers and wires — especially in a heightened state of alert, as we are," says Officer Michael McCarthy, Boston Police Department spokesman. And McCarthy thinks this is common knowledge, even if the wires are accessories to a costume.

[riverwalker]

1. So, it's not illegal

to actually torture someone, put a bag on his head and attach live electrical wires to him. However, it IS illegal to simulate such an act.
Only in America. :shrug:

[Massacure]

2. I highly doubt they are going to convince a jury to convict him though

[DBoon]

3. Doesn't matter

he still has an arrest on his record, and still needs to spend time and money defending himself

[Massacure]

4. I though that if you can't afford a lawyer, the state has to provide one?

So that means he only has to spend time to defend himself. He has the right to a speedy trial, and there is no way they are going to convince a jury. He's not an enemy combatant, he still has all his rights.

I think it was worth it for him.

[DBoon]

6. Not all costs are covered

Missed work time, expenses other than direct legal expenses. You get in a car wreck, and even if in a utopian world your insurance covers everything (dream on!) a car wreck is still a very costly disruption to your life. Same with an arrest and a trial.

I'm very glad this fellow is sticking up for his rights - but for many of us an arrest alone is really bad news.

In my own case, an arrest would likely result in unemployment.

[sleipnir]

5. I hope he sues the city for all it's worth...

Sorry Boston, or at least the Chief of Police in a civil suit. Make that guy pay, put him out of a job and a future. These illegal charges will only stop when those who prosecute them lose their jobs, benefits, future, etc.