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Wednesday, March 6, 2013

Our brave new world .... Summons issued for the crime of laughing loudly... in your own house


A revolution is coming....I can feel it in my bones.

Kieran Crowley and Laurel Babcock writing at NYPost:
..... There’s no pursuit of happiness for this Long Island man — local cops busted him for laughing too loudly in his own home.

Robert Schiavelli, 42, was recently slapped with two “absurd” summonses because his next-door neighbor complained that he could hear his hearty guffaws from across the driveway.

“I didn’t know it was a crime to laugh out a window,” said Schiavelli, who is considered disabled because he has frequent seizures and suffers from neurological impairments.

Schiavelli was chortling because he says his neighbor often taunts him due to his disability — and his best defense is to laugh him off.
But a detective responded to the Rockville Centre neighbor’s complaints and wrote up two tickets for “disturbing the peace” at 6 p.m. on Feb. 12 and 13.

Each summons carried a $250 fine or 15 days in jail.

“It’s absurd,” lawyer Andrew Campanelli said. “My client faces 30 days in jail for laughing.”

Schiavelli, who lives with his mother, was charged with acting “in such a manner as to annoy, disturb, interfere with, obstruct, or be offensive to others.”

“The last time I checked, it was not a crime to laugh — except in Rockville Centre,’’ Campanelli said.

At Schiavelli’s arraignment yesterday, local Judge William Croutier said he “was not so inclined” to dismiss the charges.

When the judge asked why police were called, Campanelli said, “My client is a bit of a gentle giant. The way he responds [to his neighbor] is to laugh.”..........

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