‘Dismissed’ Is Punch Line to Joke
NEW YORK — A man arrested after telling lawyer jokes at a courthouse got the last laugh when a grand jury dismissed the disorderly conduct charge against him.
“It’s still legal in America to tell jokes -- even about lawyers,†said 70-year-old Harvey Kash’s lawyer, Ron Kuby, about Monday’s decision.
Kash testified he was exercising his 1st Amendment right when he shared a few lawyer jokes with his friend, Carl Lanzisera, 65, as they waited to enter a Long Island courthouse last month.
Kash and Lanzisera are founders of Americans for Legal Reform, a group that uses confrontational tactics to urge greater public access to the courts. They said they had mocked lawyers outside courts for years.
“How do you tell when a lawyer is lying?†Kash reportedly asked. “His lips are moving,†the pair howled in unison.
Some people giggled, but a lawyer in the line told them to pipe down and reported them to court officers. They were arrested on allegations of being abusive. The charge against Lanzisera was dropped earlier.
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