TORONTO (Reuters)
A man convicted of masturbating in
public has received a helping hand from a Canadian court
after
it
threw out an order requiring him to parade around a with a sign
admitting the crime.
An Ontario provincial court tossed out a ruling on Wednesday
last month requiring Marvin Mezquita-Duenas to stand in front of
the city's old city hall wearing a large sign with the words:
''I was convicted of committing an indecent act in High Park.''
A trial judge had ordered the unusual punishment after
Mezquita-Duenas pleaded guilty to exposing himself and
masturbating last
year in the
presence of two female joggers in the Toronto park.
Mezquita-Duenas was to spend each morning for five days standing
in front of the building which serves as a clearing house for
the city's most violent offenders.
He was also ordered to seek psychiatric treatment and avoid all
public parks as part of his 18-month probation.
``The condition itself is manifestly inappropriate and an
affront to the values upon which our system of justice is
founded,'' Justice
David McCombs of the
Ontario Court said in his ruling on the
appeal.
While exposing convicted criminals, especially sex offenders, to
public humiliation has gained some acceptance in parts of the
United States, the practice has been rare in Canada.
Some Canadian jurisdictions have allowed the publication of the
names of people convicted of soliciting prostitutes and at least
one
judge has ordered a shoplifter to wear a sign admitting theft.
The Canadian province of Alberta, sometimes compared to Texas
in
its stern approach to law and order, is currently considering a
law that would require special license plates for drunk drivers.
The lawyer for Mezquita-Duenas, however, said the punishment
meted out in this case could have subjected her client to the
possibility of both emotional and physical harm.
``It would have been a media frenzy and there would have been a
serious possibility of vigilante justice,'' Kim Schofield said
Thursday.
What about PeeWee Herman and George
Michael?
