Defense lawyer: Police seeking 31 more charges against Shepard Fairey

This is news because...why?

what percentage of murders are solved by the bpd? just curious.

Is there no statute of limitations on graffiti vandalism? This is a complete waste of taxpayer money!

FREE SHEPARD! Whats worse? Shepards art, or the recent, eye-sore Pepsi ad's that dot the Boston landscape?

GO AWAY

How many charges? This stinks of BPD harassment to me.

Mayor Menino best rethink his cuts to our busy BPD. Who will patrol the city to protect us from these dangerous grafitti artists?

His show at the ICA is stunning. Wonderfully political art with impact.

It's not beyond belief that the authorities are trying to suppress his work while attempting to punish the artist.

Maybe the 60s thought police have returned, at least in this instance. Bummer.

Sheppard has a very good point --Why is all the public space reserved for commercial advertisers with money? His art is terrific and I would never call it vandalism. I hope this case goes all the way to the US Supreme Court, and Sheppard creates new law in this area. Tell them to "bring on the charges" Sheppard!

Are you kidding me?

I'm so freakin' tired of these thugs that we call "police" and their enabling administration. Seriously fed up with the crap that originates out of either their corrupt union, with their lack of leadership, or with the justice system that has YET to prosecute any of their out-liars (sic on purpose).

This is yet the latest in a series of examples where the police seem to be intent on destroying whatever little good will they have left. Actually- its the arrogance of their perceived position where they don't believe they even NEED the good will of the public.

I would recommend that the Mayor clean house, but he's more fearful of them than he is of the electorate.

And that speaks volumes.

You've GOT to be kidding me!

"Police admitted in testimony today before the magistrate that they had no eyewitnesses or surveillance video of Fairey putting up posters, Wiesner said."

It is BPD that is committing the "crime" here - Wasting our money and the Court's time with frivolous & asinine charges! They should be held *fully* accountable, both legally & financially.

Unbelievable.... :-(

If *this* is what Boston is paying cops for, and they've got this kind of "free time" on their hands, maybe they *should* be drastically cut back.

This Lawyer must be blind. I am sure the Federal Government was like hey Fairy can you put stickers on federal property. Example Mailbox. This guy is nothing more then a fraud not sure why people are so crazy about him his art sucks and his attitude is worst. Sorry buddy you don't have to be a D#$% to be liked in the art community just make your own art and don't plaster the city with it. If I wanted to see something that stinks I would have paid the 500 or so to go see you but please don't litter public property with your crap many people don't care to see it.

Andre The Giant Has A Posse.

Shepard. Stay in L.A. and don't come back here.
The puritan ethic is to pile it on and terrorize people if you are even PERCEIVED as being subversive. Forget about it. This isn't your type
of town. Everyone needs to walk in a straight line and take their turn
at the waterfountain in an ORDERLY FASHION. Bag it man, Boston is
not progressive in that sense, frankly i like your stuff it is much more
interesting then the advertising in Boston. Unfortunately that space
is created FOR ADVERTISING, which makes those peoples paychecks.
You are caught up in a financial conspiracy, don't play ball. Walk away
from the table. The last thing a poker player wants is a dogooder walking
around the table telling everyone what cards other players have.
You semi set yourself up for this. Dude take some sage advice, your in way over your head here, we all know they are crooks. You will create a world
of pain for yourself by pursuing this and justice here is a farce, don't even
dream about making Boston a cultural mecca, it will and always will be a
sports town for a bunch of irish drubs, who profit off the "intellectual intelligensia" market, the "sports fan" market, and the "lawyers and financials"
market. To even think that this will be Paris in the 20's is nieve beyond belief.
Drop it dude.

Smart move by city and police officials. I'm sure this will help Boston beat back that perception we're a bunch of crabby, dowdy Puritans, especially compared to cosmopolitan New York.

Just think if Fairey had stencils from Aqua Teen Hunger Force -- they'd shoot him on sight!

There are many more pressing issues in the city of Boston than the unlicensed image of our President showing up in places, especially an image that was endorsed by Obama himself. Although the BPD can not be faulted for simply doing its job to try and bring criminals to charges they deserve, yet it is clearly a waste of time due to the complete lack of eyewitnesses. Unless Fairey pleads guilty it will be a long drawn out process and a clogging of the already slow municipal courts. Of course, Fairey's arguments, or anyone else's for that matter, about commercial ads being an eyesore and Fairey being a champion of free speech will have no weight whatsoever in a capitalist society's laws and restrictions. The BPD is doing the right thing by the law but it will matter little, it is simply one of those things that should be let go with a slap on the wrist and a warning.

I suspect the police have a lot more important matters to attend to.

Really?

Shepard, tell the BPD to 'bring it on' and charge you with everything they can think of, and then you take this case all the way to the US Supreme Court, okay? Plenty of lawyers would take a case like that for free! It stinks that only advertisers get use of the public space for artwork which is for commercial purposes -- it chills free speech IMO. What is government afraid of that they want to silence artists? Challenge it!

Thank goodness this art nazi isn't getting away with this. To inflict images he likes on others' property without their approval is nothing short of arrogance and oppressive. Some people like his art, some people consider it an eyesore. To all his supporters: just because it appeals to YOU does that mean everyone should be forced to look at it. What if it was an image you found disgusting but others liked, would you still support him?

The bottom line is, it really isn't about the quality of his art or how his art compares to a Pepsi ad. It's about infringing upon someone else's property. If an artist came to your house overnight and spraypainted racial slurs on your house, but in some artistic fashion, would you say "oh good" because it's art and not a pepsi ad. No, you would complain that someone infringed upon your property. I hope he get jail time for this. The arrogance is astounding.

Glad the BPD decided to chase this bad boy!
Let put him in jail so he cost us more money! Yeah and then we can smash my nuts with a hammer! Sweet!
How many homicides went unsolved last year?
What is this case costing the tax payers?

This guy is a 39 year old loser living off his parents' trust fund and the profits from his "art" - which he readily admits he didn't create on his own. He's a fraud and a vandal. Imagine if he was famous for a Bush portrait - the sandal-wearing moonbats would be applauding the BPD for their efforts.

I was in Rome recently and was struck by how much graffiti marred public spaces. On 14th century buildings. Along the banks of the Tiber. Sad to see.. Vandalism by goons, straight and simple. My perception was that the graffiti had reached a critical mass and was out of control, marring the environment. The police here are doing their job keeping a lid on such vandalism before it gets up a head of steam

Seems like a typical Menino move. Come on Tom, give it a rest!

If he thinks public spaces should have something on them other than commercial advertisements, maybe he should do community murals that he has permission to do, NOT put Obey Giant images all over street signs, traffic lights, trash cans, telephone booths, and the like. Why do people consider this alright? If someone went to your house, car, or other belongings and threw paint on them or spraypainted an image, would you be ok with that? I doubt it. How about we admire artists who convey a message without defacing public property?

The only way to stop this kind of blatant abuse of prosecutorial power is to compensate defendants who are tried and acquitted for the harm they endured. The state should pay legal fees, compensatory damages, and possibly punitive damages every time every defendant is acquitted. Until then people are going to be railroaded by the court system on ridiculous trumped up charges simply because they annoyed the wrong bush supporter, I mean prosecutor, i mean patrolman, judge.. Simply being charged with a crime in America today is punitive. We no longer live in a society where you are innocent before proven guilty, when you are irreparably harmed and punished by simply being charged.

Funny how they don't do anything about all the stuff the cop's kids spray-paint...

Proof again that in Massachusetts, the police are the real criminals. Hey Mumbles, how much taxpayers money are your thugs with badges stealing to get all the overtime they can "investigating" garbage like this?

All Massachusetts cops need to be put on watch! Story after story of cops abusing, wasting, wanting, politicking, and forcing the citizens to their knees should call politicians to make change. Money and power makes them DANGEROUS!!!!

don't people ask for permission and pay for outdoor advertising??? Why shouldn't he????

"The only way to stop this kind of blatant abuse of prosecutorial power is to compensate defendants who are tried and acquitted for the harm they endured. The state should pay legal fees, compensatory damages, and possibly punitive damages every time every defendant is acquitted. Until then people are going to be railroaded by the court system on ridiculous trumped up charges simply because they annoyed the wrong bush supporter, I mean prosecutor, i mean patrolman, judge.. Simply being charged with a crime in America today is punitive. We no longer live in a society where you are innocent before proven guilty, when you are irreparably harmed and punished by simply being charged."

Excellent idea John, except the police and DA should be PERSONALLY liable for damages on made up or exaggerated charges against individuals found not guilty by the court. Then maybe all these thugs-with-badges we call police in this state might think twice about harassing common citizens for revenue enhancement and actually solve REAL crimes.

I heard they're also after him for the Boston Strangler killings.

Graffitti is not art until the city decides to create an outdoor art area where budding artists can paint on walls. For now, painting on someone else's property is just wrong. Would you want your house painted with someone else's idea of "art"? I doubt it.

Shep's co-opting of agit-prop has fooled him into thinking he is a real art revolutionary when he is only a clever marketer. Mix this up with the BoPigs and their agenda to keep Boston boring and you have a match made in PR heaven.

Think about it: Where better to play the martyr than in Puritantown?

I don't get it - how does the BPD know it was Fairey who put up the posters if there are no eyewitnesses or video surveillance? What is the actual evidence against him in this case? I agree with some of the other posters here - if this is what BPD spends their time on these days, cutbacks are long overdue. What an embarrassment.

This is just plain harassment. The BPD doesn't have a case if they have no eyewitnesses. But in the meantime it's costing Shepard Fairey a lot of money to have to fly out to Boston to attend these hearings, not to mention what it costs to pay for his lawyer. Most of these charges are about posters that were put up. If you don't like them, then rip them down. This is much ado about nothing.