Student who threw Qur’ans in toilet gets 300 hours of community service
NEW YORK (AP) — A former Pace University student who twice threw copies of the Koran into a toilet at the school after disputes with Muslims pleaded guilty Monday to disorderly conduct in connection with the incidents.
Stanislav Shmulevich, 24, pleaded guilty as part of a deal in which he must do 300 hours of community service. He has completed about 80 hours of the service at a hospital, his lawyer said.
Shmulevich, of Brooklyn, admitted he tossed the Muslim holy books into toilets at Pace on Oct. 13, 2006, and Nov. 21, 2006. A criminal complaint says the Koran that was recovered in the October incident “was covered in feces.”
In both cases, a teacher found the books in a men’s room on the second floor of the school’s main building in lower Manhattan.
Muslims consider the Koran a sacred writing that contains the direct word of God, and desecrating it is seen as an offense against God.
Detective Faisal Khan, who prepared the complaint, said Shmulevich told him “he committed the acts out of anger toward a group of Muslim students with whom he had a recent disagreement.”
Shmulevich, a business major and immigrant from the former Soviet Union, initially was charged with two counts of criminal mischief as a hate crime. The charge is a felony punishable by up to four years in prison.
His lawyer, Glenn Morak, said he believed the disorderly conduct plea was an appropriate disposition.
“There was no hate crime here,” Morak said. “He accepts responsibility, and he is repentant.”
To be clear, I am not for destruction of property or such reckless and useless forms of disrespect. It is wrong to destroy other people’s property and terribly unconvincing way to prove your point… But to put it in perspective:
10 hours of community service for war protesters who occupy US Senator Olympia J Snowe’s Maine senate office (I would have thought that sort of invasion of the Federal Government would warrant a wee bit harsher sentence - maybe 20 hours at least…)
30 hours of community service for football coach that killed pheasant two students had released unto the field (I hope it did not go to waste - pheasant truly is delicious!)
100 hours of community service for politician who falsified election application failing to mention 1976 felony conviction
112 hours of community service for juror who backed out of jury duty
160 hours of community service for our buddy Snoop Dogg after a pleading guilty to felony weapons possession
200 hours of community service for teenage boy who struck his pregnant girlfriend twice with baseball bat to induce miscarriage
240 hours of community service for man who assaulted police officer
250 hours of community service for man found with marijuana and loaded gun
Yea, 300 hours for a student who tossed a book in the potty seems about fair!
300 man hours constitutes almost two “bank months” - 7.5 (40-hour) weeks to be precise…
If the gent is a college educated bi-lingual man working in the NYC area, I think it is a conservative (very conservative) estimate to value his hourly wage-earning potential at $15.00 an hour… That means the 7.5 work weeks of his life for throwing a book in the potty could reasonably be valued at $4,500…
How much would it have cost him to simply replace the Koran that was damaged? Actually, why wasn’t this a matter for a civil suit?
Where is the ACLU when you actually need them?
I am wondering what sort of community service activists who pelted the late Cardinal archbishop of New York with condoms in Saint Patrick’s Cathedral during Mass or assailant of an elderly pro-life activist who was allowed by police to leave scene.
H/T: Dhimmi Watch
David Bennett
Jennifer
asimplesinner
Fr. J.
Chad Toney
Jorge Flores
Jonathan B
carmelbennett
nicenehobbit
Jason S
jaybird68
papaz
March 4, 2008 at 7:47 pm
Certainly, more deplorable things have been protected under the first amendment, like pornography. I dont condone what was done, but it is a matter of free speech IMO. I wonder if the judge conferred with the Archbishop of Canterbury to determine this draconian penalty.
March 4, 2008 at 8:07 pm
See I am wondering to whom the Koran belonged…
As a matter of course, destruction of private property is legitimate reason for civil suit if the Koran did not belong to the defendant.
Otherwise I am with you on this one…
300 man hours constitutes almost two “bank months” - 7.5 40-hour weeks to be precise…
If the gent is a college educated bi-lingual man working in the NYC area, I think it is a conservative (very conservative) estimate to value his hourly wage-earning potential at $15.00 an hour… That means the 7.5 work weeks of his life for throwing a book in the potty could reasonably be valued at $4500…
Where the heck is the ACLU?
March 4, 2008 at 8:15 pm
As I understand it this was a criminal case, not civil. If it was a matter of destroyed property only, then it would be a civil suit for the value of the Korans plus other damages.
As a disorderly conduct case, it is not about the ownership or loss of the Korans.
This could appealed, I would think. But who has the money. I am with you–the ACLU only gets involved in anti-Christian cases.
March 4, 2008 at 10:10 pm
“As I understand it this was a criminal case, not civil. If it was a matter of destroyed property only, then it would be a civil suit for the value of the Korans plus other damages.”
I realized I didn’t make it clear that I understood that so I went back and edited the story…
A friend of mine in college (not one of my more mature friends) was fined something like $100 for “mooning” someone on the street…
I am of the thinking that was well more disorderly than throwing a book in a toilet in a dormitory…
March 5, 2008 at 1:01 am
According to The New York Post, the Koran was from Pace University’s library and that “under New York’s wrongheaded hate-crimes law, even that doesn’t matter. As long as the crime was committed because of a “belief or perception” about a certain group, it’s a hate crime.”
March 5, 2008 at 2:14 am
Nan,
You bring up a very important point. Much of hate crime legislation depends on some very flimsy legal concepts.
I think it was Judge Napolitano of FNC fame who said that this legislation will likely all be overturned for being bad law. In particular, all other law prohibits or requires an action but never a thought. How can one adjudicate a thought? Apparently, this judge thinks he can, but it is impossible. Thoughts cannot be illegal. Now it is even worse if the particular law is based on the thoughts of the victim such as “I felt it was a hate crime.” Who can dispute that? So this is a bad court decision based on bad law.
Again, SS nailed it. Where the hell is the ACLU?
March 5, 2008 at 2:56 am
I really happen to hate members of the Thrid Apostolic Church of Christ, reorganized, (1922 not 1923) Knox, TN (not Mobile, AL) Conference…
If I should happen to slug one I get more community service hours than the rocket scientist I referenced who got 200 hours for beating the mother of his child with a baseball bat?
Note to self: Make sure any pot-licker you have to show which end is up to is NOT Third Apostolic Church of Christ, reorganized, (1922 not 1923) Knox, TN (not Mobile, AL) Conference…
March 5, 2008 at 3:23 am
If yout think the 1922 reorganization was bad, you should see the heresy that came out of the 1919 New Book of Prayer from the Second Apostolic Church of Church of Christ! It’s enough to make you puke.
Unless puking can be interpreted as a hate-crime. In that case, I retract my statement, and hide in the basement with the ACLU.
(And on a serious side note, we KNOW why the ACLU isn’t doing anything right? They’re afraid of Muslim retaliation. Welcome to our brave new world.)
March 5, 2008 at 3:37 am
“If yout think the 1922 reorganization was bad, you should see the heresy that came out of the 1919 New Book of Prayer from the Second Apostolic Church of Church of Christ! It’s enough to make you puke.”
Really, who uses that anymore but a few Second Apostolic Church of Church of Christ trads?
The revised Canadian edition that came out in 52 made it bearable. The orthodox party of the Second Apostolic Church of Church of Christ actually won the day.
Bearable far beyond those chowder heads at the Third Apostolic Church of Christ, reorganized, (1922 not 1923) Knox, TN (not Mobile, AL) Conference…
March 5, 2008 at 3:39 am
And yes, the ACLU is afraid - but will not admit it…
There comes a point when fighting for the right to hate speech against those who are also fighting for a right to hate speech but with special protections becomes so confusing, that even Allen Ginsburgh throws in the towel.
I had always hoped they would try to establish a chapter in Tehran.
March 5, 2008 at 4:29 am
-The revised Canadian edition that came out in 52 made it bearable.-
Need I point out that this edition was only applicable for the North American Broad Chruch Rite within the Apostolic Church commmunion, and therefore unused, indeed, even unknown to the reorganized heretics of Knox, TN (Not Mobile, Alabama)?
Rumor has it that the editor was secretly ordained to the episcopate by the…well, this discussion really belongs over at the Anglopapists so I’ll just leave it at that.
March 5, 2008 at 7:03 pm
If anyone had any doubts that we are living in an anti Christian society…have them no longer. People can verbally trash Christianity, physically attack our clergy, put up “art” that blasphemes our Lord etc., and very little is heard in protest. However, just let a Christian voice a protest against radical Islam (or anything else) and he becomes a criminal. Welcome to the “enlightened” 21st Century. Bah!
March 5, 2008 at 10:10 pm
To add confusion to the matter, in most jurisdictions disorderly conduct can be either a low misdemeanor or civil violation. An example of the latter would be a parking ticket. Not being a lawyer, I’ll speculate and say the law is something to the effect of “performing an action intended to disturb the peace.” Flushing a Koran down the toilet in a public persentation seems to qualify.
Personally, I would like to go back to the old belief that held the 1st Ammendment was an immunity against being charged with slander/libel for criticizing the State or the King.
March 5, 2008 at 11:47 pm
“Personally, I would like to go back to the old belief that held the 1st Ammendment was an immunity against being charged with slander/libel for criticizing the State or the King. “
Well aren’t you a dreamer!
The fact property was destroyed seems to be the key factor in jumping all over this man’s freedoms… I don’t think putting a book in the crapper - especially if it is tome I can be forced to replace is cause for removing this man’s freedom for 300 hours!
(And make no mistake about it, when you owe the Uni money, they do tack it on, they do get it! This was by all accounts, a $15 copy if that!)
Even drunk drivers (provided they were caught before killing someone!) only have to get 72 hours of jail time or “treatment”… 300 hours for this is more than crazy.