New York Senate passes Stolen Valor law
The New York State Senate has passed a law that makes stolen valor a crime. The bill written by Senator Thomas Croci makes the crime of presenting a false military history a Class E felony;
“Men and women who bravely serve our country deserve to have their honor and their uniform protected. Anyone who would wear a uniform or decoration who has not earned it for the purpose of obtaining money or other benefits should be held accountable. Sadly, occurrences such as these have become all too common. Requiring the criminals to pay a stolen valor fee is a fitting way to ensure that our real veterans are honored appropriately,” stated Senator Croci, Chair of the State Senate Committee on Homeland Security, Veterans, and Military Affairs.
The punishment comes with a paltry $250 fine that will be earmarked for the Veteran’s Cemetery Fund to establish a state veterans’ cemetery. I’m guessing that there’s also jail time included in that, since it is a felony.
Category: Stolen Valor Act
Kudos to the New York State Senate. The old broken clock rule and so forth.
Isn’t that amazing? Something so basic and so much common sense and it took a New Yerker to figure it out….go figure!
I’m guessing that there’s also jail time included in that, since it is a felony.
Not so much, in New York state a Class E non-violent felony is typically a fine and somewhere between a year to four years of probation.
Da Boyz in the NY pounddemindaass lockups are gonna be sad that they can’t be serving cockmeat sammiches and tubesteak to SV posers.
🙁
Yes, but need jail time and community service needs to be for the military branch and troops they fucked over by lying.
If they are looking to prosecute someone under their new law and show they mean business, they need to look no further than the roll of inductees in their own New York State Senate Veterans Hall of Fame.
These individuals have already been featured here in TAH and can be found in the Stolen Valor section:
Albert Ruiz – he of the falsified 46 year old DD214 and claims of a CAR.
Michael P. Cody, Jr. – he of the phony Silver Star and wearing of a BDU shirt to the ceremony when everybody else wore a suit and tie.
I wonder if any progress has been made on getting those two turds kicked out of the Hall of Fame.
I suspect that this can and will be used as an “enhancement” of fraud laws.
In other words, not only do you get convicted of fraud, but you get convicted of the particular offense of Stolen Valor as well.
I can live with that.
Not that I’m unsympathetic to this law or siding with posers, but, in the light of the original SV Act that was ruled un-Constitutional on the grounds that, tasteless though it may be, lying about military service is protected free speech. I’m no lawyer…stayed in a Holoday Inn once. Can someone explain to me how this law is different from the original SV Act?
It’s a state law, not a Federal one. I may be wrong but that makes it much more likely to be pursued.
Some of the more experienced members here my chime in and clear it up, does a federal court/ attorney have to be the one to address the federal stolen valor charges or can a local district attorney do it?
“for the purpose of obtaining money or other benefits r the purpose of obtaining money or other benefits” is what makes it different.
The original SV law was thrown out because of “free speech” aspects.
The difference is that the previous federal Stolen Valor law made it a crime to simply wear badges, insignias, etc. The Courts basically ruled that without actual harm to anyone, people are free to lie. You can’t commit fraud (lie to get something of value,) but you can lie.
The text of the New York bill can be found here: http://legislation.nysenate.gov/pdf/bills/2015/S5201
Here’s the relevant part:
S 190.28 STOLEN VALOR.
A PERSON IS GUILTY OF STOLEN VALOR WHEN HE OR SHE PRETENDS TO BE A MEMBER OF THE MILITARY OR RESERVES AS DEFINED BY SUBDIVISION TWENTY-TWO OF SECTION 10.00 OF THIS CHAPTER, OR PRETENDS TO BE A VETERAN AS DEFINED BY SUBDIVISION TWENTY-THREE OF SECTION 10.00 OF THIS CHAPTER, OR WEARS OR DISPLAYS WITHOUT AUTHORITY, ANY UNIFORM, BADGE OR OTHER INSIGNIA OR FACSIMILE THEREOF, BY WHICH SUCH MEMBER OF THE MILITARY OR VETERAN IS LAWFULLY DISTINGUISHED OR EXPRESSES BY HIS OR HER WORDS OR ACTIONS THAT HE OR SHE IS ACTING WITH THE APPROVAL OR AUTHORITY OF ANY DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE BRANCH OR THE UNITED STATES COAST GUARD FOR THE PURPOSE OF OBTAINING MONEY OR OTHER BENEFITS.
Section 190 of the New York Statutes is for fraud. This bill add Stolen Valor for the purpose of fraud is would be illegal.
That lines up with the Federal law as well.
So you can go around saying “I am a combat vet with 5 CIB’s,” and be fine. What you can’t say is “I am a combat vet with 5 CIB’s Can I get a free meal for my service to the country?”
You can’t even accept goods or services if based upon the idea that you are using stolen valor.
All this does is say “if you use Stolen Valor to scam people, you are breaking the law.” Like I said above, I think this will be used as an enhancement to the fraud statutes.
1) Commit fraud? Pay and go to jail.
2) Commit fraud using Stolen Valor? See #1 above, plus be convicted of a class E felony, pay money.
$250..?