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Obama Artist Pleads Guilty to Charges

By MELISSA TRUJILLO
,
AP
posted: 120 DAYS 2 HOURS AGO
comments: 519
filed under:
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BOSTON (July 10) - The artist who created the "Hope" poster of President Barack Obama was sentenced to two years of probation Friday after pleading guilty to three vandalism charges. Prosecutors dropped 11 other charges.
Shepard Fairey pleaded guilty in Boston Municipal Court to one charge of defacing property and two charges of wanton destruction of property under $250, all misdemeanors.
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The 39-year-old Los Angeles street artist, who became famous for plastering his posters and stickers throughout cities, must pay $2,000 to a graffiti removal organization and cannot possess tagging materials — such as stickers or paste — in Boston except for authorized art installations. He also must tell officials when he plans to visit Suffolk County, where Boston is located.
"I think that people should be responsible about sharing their art, and that's not a transition or an evolution of my philosophy," Fairey said outside court. "Fortunately, I'm at a place in my career where I can get sanctioned spaces, so it's not an issue that I'll ever have to worry about again."
Fairey was arrested in February when he was in Boston for an event kicking off a solo exhibit at the Institute of Contemporary Art. The arrest came three days after he failed to appear in court on a charge of placing a poster on a Boston electrical box in September 2000.
In the plea deal, Fairey admitted to the 2000 incident and two others this past January: placing a sticker on the back of a traffic sign and affixing a poster to a private condominium building.
He faces no further vandalism charges in Suffolk County. Prosecutors dropped 14 charges last month, saying they could not prove Fairey had placed stickers on properties in Boston's Roxbury neighborhood.
"I share my art and it works virally. People make printouts from the Internet and people buy my stickers online," he said. "There was absolutely no way for the city of Boston to assert that Obama posters put up when I wasn't even in town were done by me, which is ridiculous."
Assistant District Attorney Josh Wall said prosecutors aren't responsible for judging the artistic merits of street artists when they break the law to display their work.
Fairey intends to return to Boston on July 31 to attend a party at the museum for his exhibit, which ends next month.
In a separate case, Fairey and The Associated Press have sued each other over the "Hope" poster, which Fairey's lawyers acknowledge was derived from a photo taken for the AP.
The AP has said his uncredited and uncompensated use of the image violates copyright laws. Fairey says he didn't violate copyright law because he dramatically changed the image.
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Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. Active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL.
2009-07-10 17:40:33

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MountainsMan2007

02:45 AMAug 09 2009

Steven Polliard picture is accurate...a mad ignorant bully that wants to make sure all americans do not get health care. As for all these other posts slamming Obama, get a life. Wow are you people the biggest sore losers since Clinton won....OH and what resulted UNDER CLINTON WAS THE LONGEST (7 AND A HALF YEARS) OF ECONOMIC PROSPERITY EVER RECORDED....EVER. I am an Independant so you right wingers keep it up....we will all be LIBERALS with all this moronic talk as you will push the middle there so quickly, you next election will be as bad for you as the last.

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(1)

McCotter3057

09:41 PMAug 09 2009

does obama know anybody that not a crook,if he was white he be in jail. and this sob is the president.what the hell is wrong with you people. iMPEACH THIS THING NOW.

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Rockola1458

04:33 PMAug 08 2009

Another stupid white boy sniffing Obozo's ass. Doesn't he know that sniffing black crack is illegal. Boy that black crack will damage your brain, Oh my bad you don't have any to damage.

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Rockola1458

04:29 PMAug 08 2009

He does look kind of gay.

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Rockola1458

04:27 PMAug 08 2009

This is not right, he should have gotten 2yrs in jail but it was for obama and not negitive, They should smack the liberal sons of a bitch 20 times for painting such shit.

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Cfluffy57

09:06 AMAug 07 2009

All he has to do is slap some black shoe polish on his face, rant and rave - RACIST and Hussein will invite him to The White house for a beer and all charges will be dropped. 2012 cannot come soon enough - NO MORE(1) TERM TOKEN BOY APPEASEMENT SELECTIONS - AMERICA NEEDS AN HONORABLE, PARIOTIC, AMERICAN PRESIDENT.

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CintronBernice

07:36 PMAug 06 2009

Of course he's basically going to get only a slap on the wrist. If it were anti-OStupid he would have been sentenced to some type of jail time.... Pity he wasn't. Hope my ass!

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ConJery

06:15 PMAug 06 2009

OH MY GOD !!! HE SHOULD OF BEEN PAID FOR WHAT HE DID........................FREEDOM DOEST COME CHEAP ANYMORE.......................................................

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Sailor Storme

04:57 PMAug 06 2009

Invite Barry over for a beer pal. He's down with that.

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Carlandsherri

11:05 AMJul 13 2009

aRE YOU KIDDING ME.

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The artist who created the Hope poster of President Barack Obama was sentenced to two years of probation Friday after pleading guilty to three vandalism charges. Prosecutors dropped 11 other charges.