Not your typical, everyday charge of "criminal mischief":
PITTSBURGH -- Police have flagged a man for an illegal quarterback sneak.
Authorities said Brian Jackson, 31, dated two women by pretending to be Pittsburgh Steelers quarterbacks Ben Roethlisberger and Brian St. Pierre.
Jackson, arrested Friday, was charged with harassment for allegedly continuing to contact both women after they learned of the ruses. He was also charged with criminal mischief for allegedly ruining a Steelers jersey owned by one of the women's neighbors when he signed his worthless rendition of Roethlisberger's autograph on it. The jersey was worth $75 before it was signed, police said.
Here's the interesting legal theory in the case--by signing the jersey with his worthless "autograph" he ruined a $75 jersey, thereby giving rise to a criminal mischief charge.
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette adds:
He's not 6-foot-5. He's not 23. He doesn't wear No. 7. And he doesn't have a goatee. In fact, Brian Jackson doesn't resemble Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger in any way.
What I want to know is who is this supposed Stiller fan who owns a Roethlisberger jersey--but doesn't even know what Roethlisberger looks like?
I don't get it.
And if you are the fomer Steeler's kicker, you misspelled your last name.
I'll bet dollars to fake autographs that these "victims" had well-connected daddies. Really, just absolutely sickening.
But...surely he was invited to sign the jersey by its owner. How is his action criminal, then? I understand of course that the owner would have a strong civil case to the effect that he conned her into a fraudulent investment, id est writing "his" name on her jersey to increase its value, and that she would have a right to recover her losses.
So, um, let's see, if my next-door neighbor kid tells me he's Picasso's grandchild, and so I ask him to paint and sign a beautiful mural on my garage door (which I figure will greatly increase the value of my house), but I don't offer to pay him anything (because I'm a cheap opportunistic bastard), and then he does, but, oops, joke's on me and he's not Pablo's descendant -- then the cops will come out and arrest his lying ass for me? And the State will prosecute? They won't all just laugh and tell me I need to hire a lawyer and try my luck in civil court? While muttering caveat cheapskator under their breath?
http://members.aol.com/StatutesPA/18.Cp.33.html
I also think that, given summary offenses are tried in a venue similar to Traffic Court, even *I* could beat this particular charge with PA's consent provision. Or the provision against de minimis infractions.
http://members.aol.com/StatutesP4/18PA302.html
http://members.aol.com/StatutesP4/18PA312.html
Patrick McKenzie
Ben or Jerry?
O/w, every painter whose paint, on my house doesn't look the way I thought it would (or who uses the wrong paint) is subject to prosecution for damaging my house. (You can tell, I'm mid-remodel right now).
As a family law practitioner in Los Angeles, I've seen multitudes of parentage cases brought against professional athletes (in one instance, I inquired of a court clerk regarding a hearing set for my mom-client's case, only to discover, through the clerk's resulting confusion, that defendant athlete daddy had been in the same courtroom the prior week with A DIFFERENT plaintiff mom...) and have waited to see the consequences of someone accomplishing seduction by this sort of impersonation. If someone's willing to raise this much of a stink about a jersey. . . .
BTW, this brings be back, collaterally, to my favorite California criminal law puzzle: Cal. P.C. 261 says that a defendant can commit rape by obtaining the victim's consent
Does this mean:
A. perp hires a fake minister, who performs a fake marriage, and then says to victim, "Dear, we're married now, it's OK", or
B. perp puts on a fake beard, so he looks like his brother, and slips into bed with his brother's wife?
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