Thursday, July 17, 2014

More on Golb ruling

THE NEW YORK TIMES: Son of Dead Sea Scrolls Scholar Is Sentenced to Two Months in Jail (James C. McKinley Jr.). Excerpt:
The sentencing of Raphael Golb, the son of a prominent Dead Sea Scrolls scholar, came two months after the Court of Appeals struck down the state’s aggravated harassment law under which he had been charged, ruling that it was unconstitutionally vague and broad. The law made it illegal to communicate with someone “in a manner likely to cause annoyance or alarm.”

But State Supreme Court in Manhattan upheld Mr. Golb’s convictions on criminal impersonation and forgery counts, for which he received the sentence of two months in jail and three years’ probation.

Justice Laura A. Ward ordered Mr. Golb to surrender on July 22.

Mr. Golb’s lawyer, Ron Kuby, said he had filed a new appeal of the jury’s verdict in light of the Court of Appeals decision, and said, in hindsight, that the original trial judge had made critical mistakes in instructing the jury.

Outside court, Mr. Golb said he had been sentenced to jail for what he considered at the time to be satire. He called the trial unfair. “It’s dangerous,” he said. “It could happen to anyone.”
Background here and links.