<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD> <META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=windows-1255"> <META content="MSHTML 6.00.2600.0" name=GENERATOR> <STYLE></STYLE> </HEAD> <BODY bgColor=#ffffff> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Lawyer Arrested for Wearing a 'Peace' T-Shirt </FONT></DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Wed March 5, 2003 08:30 AM ET </FONT></DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>NEW YORK (Reuters) - A lawyer was arrested late Monday and charged with trespassing at a public mall in the state of New York after refusing to take off a T-shirt advocating peace that he had just purchased at the mall.<BR>According to the criminal complaint filed on Monday, Stephen Downs was wearing a T-shirt bearing the words "Give Peace A Chance" that he had just purchased from a vendor inside the Crossgates Mall in Guilderland, New York, near Albany.</FONT></DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>"I was in the food court with my son when I was confronted by two security guards and ordered to either take off the T-shirt or leave the mall," said Downs.</FONT></DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>When Downs refused the security officers' orders, police from the town of Guilderland were called and he was arrested and taken away in handcuffs, charged with trespassing "in that he knowingly enter(ed) or remain(ed) unlawfully upon premises," the complaint read.</FONT></DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Downs said police tried to convince him he was wrong in his actions by refusing to remove the T-shirt because the mall "was like a private house and that I was acting poorly.</FONT></DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>"I told them the analogy was not good and I was then hauled off to night court where I was arraigned after pleading not guilty and released on my own recognizance," Downs told Reuters in a telephone interview.</FONT></DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Downs is the director of the Albany Office of the state Commission on Judicial Conduct, which investigates complaints of misconduct against judges and can admonish, censure or remove judges found to have engaged in misconduct.</FONT></DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Calls to the Guilderland police and district attorney, Anthony Cardona and to officials at the mall were not returned for comment.</FONT></DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Downs is due back in court for a hearing on March 17.</FONT></DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>He could face up to a year in prison if convicted.</FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>