UNCONSTITUTIONAL ORDINANCE: Homeless feeding ban rejected
Judge throws out case against California man
By LYNNETTE CURTIS
REVIEW-JOURNAL
A Las Vegas Municipal Court judge on Wednesday threw out a case against a California man who was cited in August under a new ordinance that bars the public from feeding homeless people in city parks.
In dismissing the misdemeanor case against Patrick Band, Judge George Assad said the ordinance was unconstitutional because it was vague and denied equal protection of the law.
The city attorney's office said it filed an appeal of the decision Thursday morning.
Allen Lichtenstein, general counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada, filed a federal lawsuit in August asking a judge to declare the ordinance unconstitutional. He said Assad's ruling supports his assertion that the ordinance is just that.
"There is absolutely no justification and no basis for marshals, police or anyone else to be arresting or citing people based on this law that a Las Vegas judge has ruled unconstitutional," Lichtenstein said.
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