Unicycle Lady Arrested in Wash. DC

Here’s an article that was written by a columnist on AOL about my recent
encounter with the “law.” Got a call yesterday from a lawyer who chairs a
committee that provides support for persons exercising their FIrst Amendment
rights in Washington, legal support for demonstrations, rallies, petitions,
protests, and civil disobedience. He is interested in my case. However, I’m
still interested in hearing other opinions, advice, comments…I’ll keep you
updated…and remember it’s not always easy to mime your own business.

Universally yours, The Unicycle Lady (http://members.aol.com/unilady/)

“©1998 Dan Halberstein for The Amazing Instant Novelist. Please do not reproduce
without this credit.”

A Mime is a Terrible Thing to Waste By NOVL Red

[humourous repartee with Pat Buchanon snipped]

Now, this sort of pointless but enjoyable political expression is protected by
the United States constitution. The same is not apparently true of non-
political artistic expression.

Am I about to launch into an impassioned defense of Maplethorpe’s photos, or
some borderline pornography on the internet, or a college student who dressed
only in cellophane for an art project?

No, gentle reader. I write in defense of a mime.

To be entirely accurate, Lisa is only sometimes a mime. At other times, she
assists in a law firm, and most of her professional contacts know her as who she
IS: “The Unicycle Lady.”

At the time of her arrest, however, Lisa was acting specifically in her capacity
of Mime. The Unicycle Lady had unfortunately chosen as her miming grounds the
space between the U.S. Capitol and the Washington Monument, better known as The
Mall. And as she found out, The Mall is a place for symbolizing freedoms, not
for exercising them.

Lisa’s act was going well. A few onlookers had gathered, amused at her antics.
She was getting important performance practice, enjoying the spring weather, and
most significantly, expressing herself in one of her artistic pursuits. She was
between two trees on a sidewalk, not on a thoroughfare blocking any pedestrian
or vehicular traffic. She had, however, left her hat momentarily beside her.

Up rode the Park Police, that erstwhile force charged with the maintenance of
law and order on the parkland of our nation’s capital. The mounted officer told
her she couldn’t perform on federal land. She pointed to the sidewalk. His horse
made a horse-noise at her. She made a horse-noise back. Finally, the officer
dismounted, took a quarter from her unfortunately placed hat, and accused her of
performing for money.

The Unicycle Lady put the hat – which she had neither passed around nor
gestured to – back in her juggler’s case, to indicate her willingness to
perform for free. The officer continued to harass Lisa, so she presented her
wrists – as if to say “so arrest me!”

That’s when the park policeman asked the mime if she could talk. Of course, she
gestured that she could not. When the park policeman refused to leave her alone,
despite the protests of onlookers, Lisa broke down and explained about her
rights as a performer, and her obligation to silence, as a performing
mime.

“I thought you couldn’t talk,” the park policeman reminded her, and the
cuffs were on.

Lisa spent the rest of the day and most of the night in two separate Washington,
D.C. jails, where she was fingerprinted and photographed (in full mime regalia),
then thrown in a cell. There, she relieved her stress by contorting for a few
hours, pondering her right to free speech and her right to remain silent, until
it was announced that she could not be properly processed for miming until she
was transferred to D.C. Central.

When all was said and done, she’d been re-fingerprinted, re-photographed, and
given a court date in June. Then a sympathetic homicide detective gave her a
ride back to park police headquarters, whence she took a cab home.

How do I know all this? The Unicylce Lady told me, at a park by the name of
Freedom Plaza. Her friend stopped his juggling when she had concluded her tale
of woe, to tell me he was running for mayor of Washington.

“At least I ADMIT I’m a clown,” he stumped. Behind me, another park
policeman had begun the confiscation of a skateboard from a boyish looking
25 year old woman.

“We got drug dealers and real criminals to catch,” he lectured her, “and we have
to spend our time chasing after you guys.”

I would advise her not to take the park police lightly.

As they showed in their impressive interrogation of the Unicycle Lady, they have
ways of making you talk.

Now if I could just get them to have a word with Pat Buchanon.

NOVL Red writes from a suburb of Washington, D.C., where taking cash for a
political campaign is called protected speech, and taking cash for miming is
equated with prostitution.

This link requires internal AOL access,
>From <A HREF=“aol://4344:3013.perpol.18679496.533003906”>Personal Politics</A>
by Dan Halberstein AOL Keyword: NOVL Red

Re: Unicycle Lady Arrested…update

FROM: Styx River Damn Authority (!spambegone!aDiaboli@antisocial.com)

This is NOT legal advise, but for informational purposes ONLY!!! The devil’s in
the details. You have been forewarned.
- – -- – -- – -- – -- – -- – -- – -- – -- -

Dear Uni, more coffin nails your legal eagles might consider:

                            Brevity 101 An Introduction

Learned Hand sez:

    The law watches personal liberty with vigilance and jealousy; and
    whoever imprisons another, in this country, must do it for lawful cause
    and in a legal manner.

Pratt v. Hill, 16 Barb. Rep. 303, 308 (N.Y. 1853). – -- – -- – -- – -- – --


    Due process of law implies and comprehends the administration of laws
    equally applicable to all under established rules which do not violate
    fundamental principles of private rights, and in a competent tribunal
    possessing jurisdiction of the cause and proceeding upon justice. It is
    founded upon the basic principle that every man shall have his day in
    court, and the benefit of the general law which proceeds only upon
    notice and which hears and considers before judgment is rendered.

State v. Green, 232, S.W.2d 897, 903 (Mo. 1950) – -- – -- – -- – -- – --


    It is usually said that not even a peace officer is privileged to make
    an arrest without a warrant for a misdemeanor which does not amount to a
    breach of the peace, and there are many cases which expressly deny the
    privilege to arrest for such a misdemeanor.

“Arrest With and Without a Warrant,” University of Pennsylvania Law Review, Vol.
75, No. 6, April, 1927, p. 486. – -- – -- – -- – -- – -- – -- – --

    [T]he common law relating to arrest is the law on that subject in [the
       U.S.]. At common law a peace officer may arrest without a warrant for
       a breach of the peace committed in his presence, but for no other
       misdemeanor.

Galliher v Commonwealth, 161 Va. 1014, 170 S.E. 734, 736 (1933), authorities
cited. – -- – -- – -- – -- – -- – -- – --

    A breach of the peace is a public offense done by violence or one
    causing or likely to cause an immediate disturbance of public order.

State v. Mobley, 240 N.C. 476, 83 S.E. 2nd 100, 104 (1954) authorities cited. –


    Arrest without warrant where a warrant is required, is not due process
    of law, and arbitrary or despotic power no man possesses under our
    system of government. [So when] a police officer exceeds his powers in
    making an arrest he becomes a trespasser... [liable for A & B, false
    arrest and imprisonment?]

Muscoe v. Commonwealth, 86 Va. 443, 10 S.E. 534, 536. – -- – -- – -- – -- –


    The constitution has also provided that no one shall be deprived of
    liberty without due process of law, and has provided that no warrant
    shall issue except upon oath or affirmation establishing probable cause.
    It has been settled for centuries, and the doctrine has been recognized
    here, that except in cases of reasonable belief of treason or felony, or
    breach of the peace committed in presence of an officer, there is no due
    process of law without a warrant issued by a court or magistrate upon a
    proper showing or finding.

Allor v. Wayne Co., 43 Mich. 76, 97, 4 N.W. 492, 495-96 (1880) – -- – -- – --


    The plaintiff need not prove that the imprisonment was unlawful or
    malicious, but establishes a prima facie case if [s]he proves that [s]he
    was imprisoned by the defendant; the onus then lies on the defendant of
    proving a justification.

Earl of Halsbury, The Laws of England, Vol. 38, 3rd Ed., Pt. 4 Sec. 1266, p.
765, London, 1962. – -- – -- – -- – -- – -- – -- – --

    Where an officer arrests a person without a warrant, the burden rests
    upon the officer to plead and prove justification. Otherwise the arrest
    is prima facie unlawful.

Evans v. Jorgenson, 182 Minn. 282, 234 N.W. 292, 293 (1931) Cases cited. – --


    False imprisonment is treated as a tort and a crime. If the conduct is
    unlawful, neither good faith, nor provocation, nor ignorance of the law
    is a defense to the person committing the wrong.

Kroeger v. Passmore, 36 Mont. 504, 93 Pac. 805, 807 (1908) – -- – -- – -- –


    As is the case of illegal arrests, the officer is bound to know these
    fundamental rights and privileges, and must keep within the law at
    his peril.

Thiede v. Town of Scandia Valley, 217 Minn. 218, 231, 14 N.W. (2nd) 803, 810
(Ta. 1933); 25 American Law Reports, Annotation, p.1518. – -- – -- – -- – --
– -- – -- – --

As may be obvious to your attorneys, I have done substantial research in this
area and would just be tickled pink to make it available for your benefit. Have
them email me with any questions regarding this hypothesis. Your cop is
definitely “due” a little “process.” } ;->

Ahhh yes!, poetic justice, sweetest of sweets!!! May he who wields the sword, be
impaled upon his own. And the playground, again restored, to good order.

                    eternally yours, A.D. par in parem imperium non habet

“Mercilessly rending, dolts venal of tongue, revoking four quarters, apt justice
be done!”
– Advocatus Diaboli (eternal)

    "You may not be able to change the world, but at least you can embarrass
     the guilty."
            -- Jessica Mitford (1917-1996)

                    "Those who can, must!" --Unknown

                    "Icrasez l'infbme!" --Voltaire (1694-1791)

> In article <1998042604412000.AAA17744@ladder03.news.aol.com>, unilady@aol.com
> (Unilady) wrote:
> >
> >
> > Here’s an article that was written by a columnist on AOL about my recent
> > encounter with the “law.” Got a call yesterday from a lawyer who chairs a
> > committee that provides support for persons exercising their FIrst
Amendment
> > rights in Washington, legal support for demonstrations, rallies,
petitions,
> > protests, and civil disobedience. He is interested in my case. However,
I’m
> > still interested in hearing other opinions, advice, comments…I’ll keep
you
> > updated…and remember it’s not always easy to mime your own business.
> >
> > Universally yours, The Unicycle Lady (http://members.aol.com/unilady/)
> > -------------------
> >
> > ")1998 Dan Halberstein for The Amazing Instant Novelist. Please do not
> > reproduce without this credit."
> >
> > A Mime is a Terrible Thing to Waste By NOVL Red
> >
> > [humourous repartee with Pat Buchanon snipped]
> >
> > Now, this sort of pointless but enjoyable political expression is protected
by
> > the United States constitution. The same is not apparently true of
> > non-political artistic expression.
> >
> > Am I about to launch into an impassioned defense of Maplethorpe’s photos,
or
> > some borderline pornography on the internet, or a college student who
dressed
> > only in cellophane for an art project?
> >
> > No, gentle reader. I write in defense of a mime.
> >
> > To be entirely accurate, Lisa is only sometimes a mime. At other times, she
> > assists in a law firm, and most of her professional contacts know her as
who
> > she IS: “The Unicycle Lady.”
> >
> > At the time of her arrest, however, Lisa was acting specifically in her
> > capacity of Mime. The Unicycle Lady had unfortunately chosen as her miming
> > grounds the space between the U.S. Capitol and the Washington Monument,
better
> > known as The Mall. And as she found out, The Mall is a place for
symbolizing
> > freedoms, not for exercising them.
> >
> > Lisa’s act was going well. A few onlookers had gathered, amused at her
antics.
> > She was getting important performance practice, enjoying the spring
weather,
> > and most significantly, expressing herself in one of her artistic pursuits.
She
> > was between two trees on a sidewalk, not on a thoroughfare blocking any
> > pedestrian or vehicular traffic. She had, however, left her hat momentarily
> > beside her.
> >
> > Up rode the Park Police, that erstwhile force charged with the maintenance
of
> > law and order on the parkland of our nation’s capital. The mounted officer
told
> > her she couldn’t perform on federal land. She pointed to the sidewalk. His
> > horse made a horse-noise at her. She made a horse-noise back. Finally, the
> > officer dismounted, took a quarter from her unfortunately placed hat, and
> > accused her of performing for money.
> >
> > The Unicycle Lady put the hat – which she had neither passed around nor
> > gestured to – back in her juggler’s case, to indicate her willingness to
> > perform for free. The officer continued to harass Lisa, so she presented
her
> > wrists – as if to say “so arrest me!”
> >
> > That’s when the park policeman asked the mime if she could talk. Of course,
she
> > gestured that she could not. When the park policeman refused to leave her
> > alone, despite the protests of onlookers, Lisa broke down and explained
about
> > her rights as a performer, and her obligation to silence, as a performing
mime.
> >
> > “I thought you couldn’t talk,” the park policeman reminded her, and the
cuffs
> > were on.
> >
> > Lisa spent the rest of the day and most of the night in two separate
> > Washington, D.C. jails, where she was fingerprinted and photographed (in
full
> > mime regalia), then thrown in a cell. There, she relieved her stress by
> > contorting for a few hours, pondering her right to free speech and her
right to
> > remain silent, until it was announced that she could not be properly
processed
> > for miming until she was transferred to D.C. Central.
> >
> > When all was said and done, she’d been re-fingerprinted, re-photographed,
and
> > given a court date in June. Then a sympathetic homicide detective gave her
a
> > ride back to park police headquarters, whence she took a cab home.
> >
> > *
> >
> > How do I know all this? The Unicylce Lady told me, at a park by the name of
> > Freedom Plaza. Her friend stopped his juggling when she had concluded her
tale
> > of woe, to tell me he was running for mayor of Washington.
> >
> > “At least I ADMIT I’m a clown,” he stumped. Behind me, another park
policeman
> > had begun the confiscation of a skateboard from a boyish looking 25 year
old
> > woman.
> >
> > “We got drug dealers and real criminals to catch,” he lectured her, "and we
> > have to spend our time chasing after you guys."
> >
> > I would advise her not to take the park police lightly.
> >
> > As they showed in their impressive interrogation of the Unicycle Lady, they
> > have ways of making you talk.
> >
> > Now if I could just get them to have a word with Pat Buchanon.
> >
> > NOVL Red writes from a suburb of Washington, D.C., where taking cash for a
> > political campaign is called protected speech, and taking cash for miming
is
> > equated with prostitution.
> > ================================
> > This link requires internal AOL access, From <A
> > HREF=“aol://4344:3013.perpol.18679496.533003906”>Personal
Politics</
> A>
> > by Dan Halberstein AOL Keyword: NOVL Red
> >
> >
>
> -----== Posted via Deja News, The Leader in Internet Discussion ==-----
> http://www.dejanews.com/ Now offering spam-free web-based newsreading
>

-----== Posted via Deja News, The Leader in Internet Discussion ==-----
http://www.dejanews.com/ Now offering spam-free web-based newsreading

Re: Unicycle Lady Arrested…update

FROM: Styx River Damn Authority (!spambegone!aDiaboli@antisocial.com)

This is NOT legal advise, but for informational purposes ONLY!!! The devil’s in
the details. You have been forewarned.
------------------------------------------------------------------

Unilady, it would appear that your arrest was unlawful, i.e., effected without
warrant which is required for arrest in cases involving minor offenses which
are neither felonies nor breaches of the peace. As a mime could hardly be
construed as disturbing the peace, and non- commercial solicitation is not a
felony, I think your cop may have made a big boo boo.

Some points for your attorney to consider when dealing with your little
incident. False arrest, false imprisonment, assault and battery, as common law
torts.
The history is rich…

Police officers are justified in arresting suspects without an arrest warrant
only in cases of felony and breaches of the peace. This is elementary. It
should be needless to cite authorities. But, for the benefit of the legally
challenged…

    The law governing this case is elementary. Except for a breach of the
    peace committed in his presence, or when he has a reasonable ground to
    believe that the person arrested is a felon or is about to commit a
    felony, a police officer has no authority to arrest without a warrant.

Cook v. Hastings, 150 Mich.289, 144 N.W. 71, 72 (1907)


    It must not be forgotten that there can be no arrest without due process
    of law. An arrest without warrant has never been lawful, except in those
    cases where the public security requires it; and this has only been
    recognized in felony, and in breaches of the peace committed in the
    presence of the officer.

Ex pate Rhodes, 202 Ala. 68, 79 So. 462, 465; citing, Sarah Way’s Case, 41
Mich.304, 1 N.W. 579, 583 (1889); State v. Williams, 45 Ore. 314, 77 Pac.
965,969, (1904); Adair v. Williams, 24 Ariz. 422, 210 Pac. 853, 856 (1922)


    If persons can be restrained of their liberty, and assaulted and
    imprisoned, under such circumstances, without complaint or warrant, then
    there is no limit to the power of a police officer. ... Any law which
    would place the keeping and safe conduct of another in the hands of even
    a conservator of the peace, unless for some breach of the peace
    committed in his presence, or upon suspicion of felony, would be most
    oppressive and unjust, and destroy all the rights which our constitution
    guaranties. These rights which existed long before our constitution, and
    we have taken just pride in their maintenance, making them a part of the
    fundamental law of the land.

Pinkerton v. Verberg, 78 Mich. 573, 44 N.W. 579,582-83 (1889); Larson v. Feeney,
196 Mich. 1, 162 N.W. 275, 276-77 (1917)

None of this changes should you be found guilty of the solicitation charge,
though I think that is unlikely. The arrest, imprisonment and assault and
battery would still be unlawful and actionable. Could be worth quite a chunk of
$$$$, A & B, false arrest and imprisonment is very serious stuff, a.k.a.,
kidnapping in laymans terms.

                    eternally yours, A.D. par in parem imperium non habet

“Mercilessly rending, dolts venal of tongue, revoking four quarters, apt justice
be done!”
– Advocatus Diaboli (eternal)

    "You may not be able to change the world, but at least you can embarrass
     the guilty."
            -- Jessica Mitford (1917-1996)

                    "Those who can, must!" --Unknown

                    "Icrasez l'infbme!" --Voltaire (1694-1791)

In article <1998042604412000.AAA17744@ladder03.news.aol.com>, unilady@aol.com
(Unilady) wrote:
>
>
> Here’s an article that was written by a columnist on AOL about my recent
> encounter with the “law.” Got a call yesterday from a lawyer who chairs a
> committee that provides support for persons exercising their FIrst Amendment
> rights in Washington, legal support for demonstrations, rallies, petitions,
> protests, and civil disobedience. He is interested in my case. However,
I’m
> still interested in hearing other opinions, advice, comments…I’ll keep
you
> updated…and remember it’s not always easy to mime your own business.
>
> Universally yours, The Unicycle Lady (http://members.aol.com/unilady/)
> -------------------
>
> ")1998 Dan Halberstein for The Amazing Instant Novelist. Please do not
> reproduce without this credit."
>
> A Mime is a Terrible Thing to Waste By NOVL Red
>
> [humourous repartee with Pat Buchanon snipped]
>
> Now, this sort of pointless but enjoyable political expression is protected
by
> the United States constitution. The same is not apparently true of
> non-political artistic expression.
>
> Am I about to launch into an impassioned defense of Maplethorpe’s photos, or
> some borderline pornography on the internet, or a college student who dressed
> only in cellophane for an art project?
>
> No, gentle reader. I write in defense of a mime.
>
> To be entirely accurate, Lisa is only sometimes a mime. At other times, she
> assists in a law firm, and most of her professional contacts know her as who
> she IS: “The Unicycle Lady.”
>
> At the time of her arrest, however, Lisa was acting specifically in her
> capacity of Mime. The Unicycle Lady had unfortunately chosen as her miming
> grounds the space between the U.S. Capitol and the Washington Monument,
better
> known as The Mall. And as she found out, The Mall is a place for symbolizing
> freedoms, not for exercising them.
>
> Lisa’s act was going well. A few onlookers had gathered, amused at her
antics.
> She was getting important performance practice, enjoying the spring weather,
> and most significantly, expressing herself in one of her artistic pursuits.
She
> was between two trees on a sidewalk, not on a thoroughfare blocking any
> pedestrian or vehicular traffic. She had, however, left her hat momentarily
> beside her.
>
> Up rode the Park Police, that erstwhile force charged with the maintenance of
> law and order on the parkland of our nation’s capital. The mounted officer
told
> her she couldn’t perform on federal land. She pointed to the sidewalk. His
> horse made a horse-noise at her. She made a horse-noise back. Finally, the
> officer dismounted, took a quarter from her unfortunately placed hat, and
> accused her of performing for money.
>
> The Unicycle Lady put the hat – which she had neither passed around nor
> gestured to – back in her juggler’s case, to indicate her willingness to
> perform for free. The officer continued to harass Lisa, so she presented her
> wrists – as if to say “so arrest me!”
>
> That’s when the park policeman asked the mime if she could talk. Of course,
she
> gestured that she could not. When the park policeman refused to leave her
> alone, despite the protests of onlookers, Lisa broke down and explained about
> her rights as a performer, and her obligation to silence, as a performing
Mici.
>
> “I thought you couldn’t talk,” the park policeman reminded her, and the cuffs
> were on.
>
> Lisa spent the rest of the day and most of the night in two separate
> Washington, D.C. jails, where she was fingerprinted and photographed (in full
> mime regalia), then thrown in a cell. There, she relieved her stress by
> contorting for a few hours, pondering her right to free speech and her right
to
> remain silent, until it was announced that she could not be properly
processed
> for miming until she was transferred to D.C. Central.
>
> When all was said and done, she’d been re-fingerprinted, re-photographed, and
> given a court date in June. Then a sympathetic homicide detective gave her a
> ride back to park police headquarters, whence she took a cab home.
>
> *
>
> How do I know all this? The Unicylce Lady told me, at a park by the name of
> Freedom Plaza. Her friend stopped his juggling when she had concluded her
tale
> of woe, to tell me he was running for mayor of Washington.
>
> “At least I ADMIT I’m a clown,” he stumped. Behind me, another park
> policeman had begun the confiscation of a skateboard from a boyish looking
> 25 year old woman.
>
> “We got drug dealers and real criminals to catch,” he lectured her, "and we
> have to spend our time chasing after you guys."
>
> I would advise her not to take the park police lightly.
>
> As they showed in their impressive interrogation of the Unicycle Lady, they
> have ways of making you talk.
>
> Now if I could just get them to have a word with Pat Buchanon.
>
> NOVL Red writes from a suburb of Washington, D.C., where taking cash for a
> political campaign is called protected speech, and taking cash for miming is
> equated with prostitution.
> ================================
> This link requires internal AOL access, From <A
> HREF=“aol://4344:3013.perpol.18679496.533003906”>Personal Politics</
A>
> by Dan Halberstein AOL Keyword: NOVL Red
>
>

-----== Posted via Deja News, The Leader in Internet Discussion ==-----
http://www.dejanews.com/ Now offering spam-free web-based newsreading