Case of 'vendor' and his ropes dismissed

A Boston Municipal Court judge has dismissed a criminal charge against a performance artist accused of being an “unlicensed transient vendor” because of a 2007 performance he staged in front of a branch of Bank of America in Boston where he displayed a sign reading “Nooses on Sale” and offered ropes tied to look like nooses in protest of the subprime mortgage crisis.

Despite the fact that Milan Kohout never sold any of the “nooses” and never intended to, Boston police officers confiscated his sign and ropes and sought criminal charges.

A motion to dismiss had been filed on Kohout’s behalf by Boston attorney Jeffrey J. Pyle. The motion argued that the charge should not have been issued because there was no evidence that Kohout is a “transient vendor,” as the law defines that term, and because a prosecution was based on Kohout’s exercise of his right to free speech.