Court Rules that Zombies were Wrongfully Detained, Have Free Speech Rights

Started by jimmy olsen, February 27, 2010, 02:03:34 AM

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jimmy olsen

 :lol:

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jxWRi7l6RLV_BWD8NGrgTfLcmUXA
Quote'Zombies' have free speech rights too, US court rules

(AFP) – 1 day ago

WASHINGTON — They're said to utter little more than an occasional groan, but zombies -- the blood-drenched monsters of Hollywood "B" movies -- still have a right to free speech, a US court ruled this week.

An appeals court in the northern US city of Minneapolis, Minnesota on Wednesday allowed a group of zombies -- or rather, several protesters costumed as such -- to press ahead with their lawsuit against police who arrested them for disorderly conduct.

The appeals court overturned a lower court in finding that the group of seven "zombies" had been wrongfully detained during a 2006 shopping mall protest against consumerism.

The three-judge panel, by a two-to-one vote, ruled that Minneapolis police lacked probable cause to arrest the demonstrators for disorderly conduct.

At the time of the protest, the plaintiffs were wearing makeup that gave them a "living dead" look: white face powder, fake blood and black circles around their eyes.

They lurched stiff-legged through the halls of the mall urging shoppers to "get your brains here" and "brain cleanup in aisle five."

In various bags, the protesters carried audio equipment including loudspeakers and wireless phone handsets, which police had described as "simulated weapons of mass destruction."

The judicial panel upheld the lower court in dismissing the plaintiffs' claims of "false imprisonment" and "First Amendment retaliation" by Minneapolis police after being put in jail for two nights.

But the appeals court sided with the protesters in ruling that police had no reason to imprison them simply for "dressing as zombies, and walking erratically in downtown Minneapolis," the court decision said.

"An objectively reasonable person would not think probable cause exists under the Minnesota disorderly conduct statue to arrest a group of peaceful people for engaging in an artistic protest by playing music, broadcasting statements (and) dressing as zombies," the appeals court ruled.

The decision allows the protesters to revive their lawsuit against Minneapolis and its police, which according to the Star Tribune newspaper seeks damages of at least 50,000 dollars per person arrested.

Copyright © 2010 AFP. All rights reserved. More »
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Syt

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Quotewalking erratically in downtown Minneapolis

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Neil

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Syt

I am, somehow, less interested in the weight and convolutions of Einstein's brain than in the near certainty that people of equal talent have lived and died in cotton fields and sweatshops.
—Stephen Jay Gould

Proud owner of 42 Zoupa Points.

DontSayBanana

Quote from: Neil on February 27, 2010, 07:39:49 AM
America's a rather silly place.



If you're only now figuring this out, you've been guilty of a rather serious oversight.
Experience bij!

Drakken

Wait, you mean it isn't from the The Onion?  :huh:

The only right real zombis have is to have a buckshot of my shotgun in the belly.  :sleep:

Ed Anger

Quote from: Drakken on February 27, 2010, 03:59:14 PM
Wait, you mean it isn't from the The Onion?  :huh:

The only right real zombis have is to have a buckshot of my shotgun in the belly.  :sleep:

Mart will tackle you for carrying a shotgun
Stay Alive...Let the Man Drive

grumbler

Quote from: Ed Anger on February 27, 2010, 04:01:32 PM
Quote from: Drakken on February 27, 2010, 03:59:14 PM
Wait, you mean it isn't from the The Onion?  :huh:

The only right real zombis have is to have a buckshot of my shotgun in the belly.  :sleep:

Mart will tackle you for carrying a shotgun
:face:
The future is all around us, waiting, in moments of transition, to be born in moments of revelation. No one knows the shape of that future or where it will take us. We know only that it is always born in pain.   -G'Kar

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"I've never been quite sure what the point of a eunuch is, if truth be told. It seems to me they're only men with the useful bits cut off."
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jimmy olsen

Quote from: Drakken on February 27, 2010, 03:59:14 PM
Wait, you mean it isn't from the The Onion?  :huh:

The only right real zombis have is to have a buckshot of my shotgun in the belly.  :sleep:
Shouldn't you aim for the head or legs? A gut wound won't slow a zombie down.
It is far better for the truth to tear my flesh to pieces, then for my soul to wander through darkness in eternal damnation.

Jet: So what kind of woman is she? What's Julia like?
Faye: Ordinary. The kind of beautiful, dangerous ordinary that you just can't leave alone.
Jet: I see.
Faye: Like an angel from the underworld. Or a devil from Paradise.
--------------------------------------------
1 Karma Chameleon point

Neil

Quote from: jimmy olsen on February 27, 2010, 08:12:12 PM
Quote from: Drakken on February 27, 2010, 03:59:14 PM
Wait, you mean it isn't from the The Onion?  :huh:

The only right real zombis have is to have a buckshot of my shotgun in the belly.  :sleep:
Shouldn't you aim for the head or legs? A gut wound won't slow a zombie down.
Of course it will.  A man can't run properly if you damage his abdominals.
I do not hate you, nor do I love you, but you are made out of atoms which I can use for something else.