Man arrested for being dressed as the Joker

[madoka]

Holy crap! Wearing a mask in public is a FELONY in Virginia!

http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2017/03/man_dressed_as_joker_carrying.html

A 31-year-old man dressed as the "Joker" comic book villain and carrying a sword was arrested Friday afternoon (March 24) by police in Winchester, Va., authorities said. Officers apprehended the man around 2 p.m. after receiving several 911 calls about a suspicious person.

Jeremy Putman, 31, was booked on a felony count of wearing a mask in public and is being held on $2,000. Similar to Louisiana, Virginia law bans mask-wearing in public or on private property unless the owner has given written consent or it's for a traditional holiday. A felony mask-wearing conviction in Virginia can be punishable by up to five years in jail.

 

[Crono]

When masks are outlawed, only outlaws will wear masks.

 

[GagHalfrunt]

That's not even a mask. If wearing makeup in public is illegal women in Virginia must live in constant fear.

 

[Paladin3]

I'm sure the sword he was carrying didn't help much.

 

[jlee]

I would assume any decent attorney would get that tossed:

According to the Virginia law, it’s illegal “for any person over 16 years of age, with the intent to conceal his identity, wear any mask, hood, or other device, whereby a substantial portion of the face is hidden or covered, so as to conceal the identity of the wearer, to be or appear in any public place ... ”

Not only do they have to prove that he had the intent to conceal his identity, they'd have to argue that face paint constitutes concealing or covering the face (with examples being masks, hoods, or "other device" - IMO establishing that the obstruction must be due to an object of some sort).

 

[Captante]

I'm sure the sword he was carrying didn't help much.

My first thought.

 

[SKORPI0]

So he was arrested for concealing his identity. A class 6 felony in Virginia.

http://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/title18.2/chapter9/section18.2-422/

https://www.reference.com/government-politics/class-6-felony-virginia-8c89607a49b24b4d

A Class 6 felony in Virginia is a crime that meets the criteria for the "felony" category with the least of authorized punishments associated with it. Class 6 felony crimes in the state of Virginia include reckless endangerment and violation of a court order.

Penalties for the commission of Class 6 felony crimes in Virginia include imprisonment of no less than one but up to five years. Fines that do not exceed $2,500 can also be imposed on those who commit Class 6 felony crimes in Virginia.

Most felony cases in Virginia begin in the relevant general district court with arraignment. In Virginia, a plea is not required at arraignment.

 

[JBT]

Was he just walking around, or going into places? And was the sword a real sword or a toy/replica?

 

[Drako]

Why so serious?

 

[gorcorps]

I'm sure the sword he was carrying didn't help much.

I'd be willing to bet that was the much larger concern, but the "mask" thing is what actually stuck as far as the law is concerned

 

[JoeBleed]

Too many things are a felony. wondering if the sword was real or fake. and yet another law that shouldn't be to begin with.

 

[madoka]

I can picture police staking out anime and comic cons to bust cosplayers as they leave.

 

[[DHT]Osiris]

How would this felony law fly for say, Muslim women?

Also, he could probably get off on the 'theatrical performance' clause, if a reasonable person might assume he was just being dumb/not really going to start facemurdering people.

 

[Linflas]

This is not unique to Virginia, you can get 10 years for it in Canada.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-mask_laws

 

[GagHalfrunt]

How would this felony law fly for say, Muslim women?

That's a good question. The way the law is written it bans masks, hoods and other DEVICES. And while facepaint or makeup don't come close to meeting that description a black veil certainly does. The law specifically allows holiday costumes, theatrical performers, people whose occupation might require face covering and anyone wearing a mask under doctors orders it makes no mention of religious coverings. I'd love to see somebody test that by painting a Joker face on the outside of a burkha.

 

[[DHT]Osiris]

That's a good question. The way the law is written it bans masks, hoods and other DEVICES. And while facepaint or makeup don't come close to meeting that description a black veil certainly does. The law specifically allows holiday costumes, theatrical performers, people whose occupation might require face covering and anyone wearing a mask under doctors orders it makes no mention of religious coverings. I'd love to see somebody test that by painting a Joker face on the outside of a burkha.

Perhaps stay-at-home Muslim wife constitutes an occupation well enough to slide through? The idea of hordes of anon-masks-over-burkha wearing ladies marching on a Virginia courthouse gets me giddy, though.

 

[BarkingGhostar]

So much for clowning around. I guess Virginia is the jackass state.

 

[JimKiler]

Virginia is a three strikes state so if he gets convicted for a mask 3 times he could get life in prison. This mask law is probably the reason the 3 strikes law was added to Virginia in '94.

 

[[DHT]Osiris]

Virginia is a three strikes state so if he gets convicted for a mask 3 times he could get life in prison. This mask law is probably the reason the 3 strikes law was added to Virginia in '94.

In an alternate universe I'd like to see a million or two people show up to a police station in VA with masks on to turn themselves in, three weeks in a row. See how they handle that.

 

[dainthomas]

I can picture police staking out anime and comic cons to bust cosplayers as they leave.

I was just going to ask about that. That's all you see walking around San Diego during comicon.

 

[GagHalfrunt]

Perhaps stay-at-home Muslim wife constitutes an occupation well enough to slide through? The idea of hordes of anon-masks-over-burkha wearing ladies marching on a Virginia courthouse gets me giddy, though.

I think it's more the fact that Virginia doesn't give a shit about Muslims and wants them to feel unwelcome. If it was South Carolina I'd be sure that was the reason. I hope this does gain some traction though. It would be hilarious to see a burkha march on the capital leading to the law being re-written to allow religious garb and have that immediately followed by a rash of robberies committed by people wearing burkha disguises.

 

[Red Squirrel]

This just shows the sad state of affairs today. Ok maybe the guy is weird for walking like that in public, but for it to actually lead to being arrested? Go back 20 years and someone probably would have invited him in for a couple beers for having such a sick costume.

But yeah sadly masks or any form of masking your face is illegal in lot of places now. It's ridiculous. This is because it twarts with the face recognition cameras, drones etc. If you purposely try to stop the government from tracking you, you won't have a nice day. They are working so hard on making encryption illegal too.