The line leading into First District Court in Hempstead [Long Island, NY] Monday morning was long and frustrating, but it was the punch line in a lawyer joke that got two rabble-rousing comedians arrested. "How do you tell when a lawyer is lying?" Harvey Kash, 69, of Bethpage, said to Carl Lanzisera, 65, of Huntington, as the queue wound into the court. "His lips are moving," they said in unison, completing one of what may be thousands of standard lawyer jokes. But while that rib and several others on barristers got some giggles from the crowd, the attorney standing in line about five people ahead wasn't laughing... The attorney reported Kash and Lanzisera to court personnel, who arrested the men and charged them with engaging in disorderly conduct, a misdemeanor...
The men are founders of Americans for Legal Reform, a group of outspoken advocates who use confrontational tactics to push for greater access to courts for the public and to monitor how well courts serve the public... They said their rights to free speech were violated Monday. But Dan Bagnuola, a spokesman for the Nassau courts, said the men were causing a stir and that their exercise of their First Amendment rights to free speech was impeding the rights of others at the court. Bagnuola said he did not have the name of the lawyer who complained to officers. The men were given desk appearance tickets and are due back in court - as defendants - next month. |