DAYTONA BEACH, FL – In a decision issued last week, the Court of Appeals for the Seventh Judicial Circuit in Daytona Beach, FL ruled that “Top-Free” protestor Elizabeth Book has the right to go topless in public without criminal sanction in connection with legitimate acts of political protest.
Book was originally charged under a city ordinance banning public nudity after going topless during a “Bike Week” biker rally in March of 2004. The arrest came despite an exception contained in the pertinent Daytona Beach ordinance that allows for public nudity in the course of a political demonstration, or where such conduct is protected by the First Amendment, according to Book’s attorney, Lawrence G. Walters
“They just couldn’t resist,” Walters told YNOT, referring to the decision of local prosecutors to charge Book, despite the exception for political protests contained in the ordinance she was charged under.
Walters noted that Book announced her intentions well in advance, and that her protest, an expression of Book’s opinion that it is unfair for men to be permitted to go topless in public places while women are prohibited from doing so, clearly “had all the indicia of a legitimate political protest.”
Prior to Book’s Bike Week protest, when Book learned that local police planned to arrest anyone who went topless at the protest, Walters sought an emergency injunction in federal court to prevent the police from making the arrests, arrests which appear to contradict the language of the very ordinance the police said they were enforcing. The federal court eventually ruled it didn’t have time to fully consider the issue prior to the Bike Week event, and so declined to issue the emergency injunction.
Book, having warned the other women who attended the protest of the possibility of arrest, was the sole topless protestor at the event. Book was arrested and ordered to pay a fine of $253 or contest the matter in court.
In June of 2005, Volusia County Judge David Beck ruled that Book was within her rights and that her protest was exempt from prosecution under the relevant ordinance. The city appealed, arguing that Book’s protest was not legitimate and served a purpose other than airing of a political grievance.
Walters said, however, that the city presented no real evidence of another motive or rationale for the protest though, and merely presented the court with a “parade of possibilities.”
“They just tried to smear her,” Walters told YNOT.
Among the unsupported suggestions that the city made, was the possibility that Book might just be seeking media attention or perhaps intended to write a book and use the publicity from the event to make money.
The problem for the city, Walters said, was that these theories and possibilities were all speculative and paled in comparison to the weight of evidence showing that Book’s protest was a legitimate political protest.
The appellate court agreed with Walters and determined that the trial court was correct in ruling that Book’s nudity “occurred in connection with a legitimate, pre-announced political protest and was not a ruse for commercial or pecuniary gain,” Walters noted in a written statement concerning the appellate court ruling.
“While the City has an option to seek review of this decision by the Fifth District Court of Appeal,” the statement notes, “such an appeal is discretionary and only allowed under exceptional circumstances.”
Walters said that while he and his client hope the appellate court’s decision “puts to rest any question about Ms. Book’s right to conduct Top Free Protests in the City of Daytona Beach,” the decision does not, unfortunately, signify the end of Book’s existing conflicts with the city.
“The City has engaged in an outright campaign of prosecution against our client, charging her or threatening her on multiple occasions with jail and fines as a result of her political protests and exercise of First Amendment rights,” Walters said in a written statement issued separately from his interview with YNOT.
Book still faces charges in connection with another protest, a topless protest which Book made after Judge Beck’s ruling in June of 2005.
As with the Bike Week protest, when Book appeared in front of a set of topless Grecian statues near the Peabody Auditorium in July of 2005, she announced her protest in advance and otherwise carried out the protest in ways that she believed were completely within the bounds of the law, especially in light of her recent court victory.
Nevertheless, Book was again arrested and was charged with disorderly conduct in violation of state law.
Walters said he believes the second arrest, undertaken despite Judge Beck’s ruling, was “evidence of bad faith.”
“The disorderly conduct law clearly does not apply” to Book’s protests, Walters said, adding that the authorities are “trying to wear her [Book] down” through their repeated prosecutions.
The case involving Book’s disorderly conduct charge is scheduled for final hearing on December 14th, 2006, Walters said.
In addition to contributing to YNOT, Q is the Director of Traffic Development for NicheBucks.com and an eight-year veteran of the online adult industry.
