John Brennan, “Naked American Hero”, found not guily

John Brennan, who took off all his clothes while being detained by the TSA at the Portland [OR] International Airport (PDX) in protest of his continued detention and the TSA’s excessively intrusive “screening”, was found not guilty today of indecent exposure at the conclusion of a bench trial (during which Mr. Brennan testified, clothed, in his own defense) in Multnomah County Court. According to an Associated Press report on the trial:

A Multnomah County prosecutor said if Brennan’s actions are considered protected by the First Amendment, then anyone who is arrested while nude can also claim that their actions are a protest.

That leaves Mr. Brennan out of pocket for the legal expenses of defending his innocence. The “not guilty” verdict in the criminal case brought against Mr. Brennan leaves open the possibility, as already threatened by the TSA, of a civil action to fine Mr. Brennan for “interfering” with TSA screeners in the performance of their duties. On the other hand, the “not guilty” verdict also leaves open the possibility of a civil suit by Mr. Brennan against the checkpoint staff and police who violated his rights.

7 thoughts on “John Brennan, “Naked American Hero”, found not guily”

Terry - July 27, 2012 at 9:10 pm

I wrote an article on S.B.1070 in May of 2010 regarding the catch 22 the law has created for police officer’s in Arizona along with the state’s stop and identify statute. The article can be found at:

https://www.checkpointusa.org/blog/index.php/2010/05/02/arizona_immigration_law_overreach

In a nutshell, it appears to me that S.B.1070 now makes it possible for individuals to refuse to identify themselves based upon the 5th amendment’s prohibition against self-incrimination. In the past, the court’s have ruled that compelling someone to provide their name in the presence of reasonable suspicion was not a violation of the 5th amendment since a person’s name did not tend to incriminate them. With SCOTUS upholding part of S.B.1070 however, that is no longer the case. A person’s name will be a key piece of information used by the police in Arizona to determine their legal status and whether or not they’re in violation of other state laws based upon that status.