Nashville TN. Jan 28, 2008
A Nashville judge has given an unusual punishment to a teenager to stand outside police headquarters holding a sign that says officers are “not pigs.”
Nineteen-year-old Austin Bean’s public defender argued Friday that his First Amendment rights were being challenged.
Davidson County Criminal Court Judge Mark Fishburn ordered the teenager to hold a sign reading, “Respect the police, they are not pigs as I stated on my MySpace page” and “There is nothing funny about guns and nothing cool about gangs.”
The order was a condition of the probation the teenager received for a charge of coercing a witness. Bean posted threatening messages against another teenager on MySpace.
Bean will not have to follow the order until his case is appealed.
Nineteen-year-old Austin Bean’s public defender argued Friday that his First Amendment rights were being challenged.
Davidson County Criminal Court Judge Mark Fishburn ordered the teenager to hold a sign reading, “Respect the police, they are not pigs as I stated on my MySpace page” and “There is nothing funny about guns and nothing cool about gangs.”
The order was a condition of the probation the teenager received for a charge of coercing a witness. Bean posted threatening messages against another teenager on MySpace.
Bean will not have to follow the order until his case is appealed.
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