Decisions

> Is it against the law to stand stark naked on the street in broad daylight in the heart of Manhattan's financial district? Detective Joseph Leahy thought so the Sunday he saw green-eyed Actress Jan Tice (5 ft. 10 in., 37-25-37) posing nude in front of the Morgan Guaranty Trust Building while Writer John Wilcock held her coat and Photographer Jean Kirkland took pictures--for a book on New York monuments, they explained. It takes proof of lewdness as well as nudeness to make a case of indecent exposure, but this problem did not arise; photographer, writer and model were all charged with disorderly conduct--acting "in such a manner as to be offensive to others." But for others to be offended, others have to be present, ruled Criminal Court Judge Richard Daly. Reluctantly he acquitted Monument Tice and friends, because near Wall Street that Sunday afternoon there had been nobody around but the pigeons.

> Can a man with a pocketful of money be jailed as a vagrant? Confessed Mississippi Gambler John L. Fonte could claim no legitimate occupation, so even though he was carrying $771, he was convicted for "statutory vagrancy" under an old Tennessee law originally intended to force the idle to work at "some honest calling." Upholding Fonte's conviction, the state's supreme court ruled that "the mere possession of money is insufficient defense" and found that the ancient statute, now "directed almost exclusively at the prevention of crime," can apparently be used against some well-to-do idlers.

> Does a confessed murderer have any redress when his court-appointed lawyer refuses to represent him on appeal? He does indeed, ruled a Tokyo court. Katsumi Ohnishi had been sentenced to death for poisoning his parents and stealing their savings, then butchering two strangers for their identity papers. When Lawyer Toichi Yasutomi was appointed to handle Murderer Ohnishi's appeal, he asked to be replaced because he was convinced that Ohnishi's crime was hideous and that the sentence was just. Months later, all appeals lost, in a last gesture of defiance the convicted criminal sued the respected lawyer for dereliction of duty. This time Ohnishi won. The award: $83.

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