May 5, 2016

"After a teammate dared [Hunter] Osborn to stick out the top of his penis during the yearbook football picture, Osborn did just that."

"Osborn was arrested and faced 70 charges: 69 misdemeanor charges for indecent exposure — one for each person in the photo — and one felony charge for 'furnishing harmful items to minors' (for exposing himself).... But on Wednesday, officials announced they had dropped the charges against Osborn after all 69 people in the yearbook picture declined to file charges."

ADDED: The government had 69 possible complainants, and not one would side with the prosecution. Nice teamwork.

51 comments:

Eric the Fruit Bat said...

What is the top of a penis?

Meade said...

You know — Top of the penis to you, Eric!

Fernandinande said...

all 69 people in the yearbook picture declined to file charges.

Ha ha. Stupid persecutors.

At least these "minors" weren't all in a shower or locker-room together, especially a "choose your own sex" shower/locker-room.

exhelodrvr1 said...

How much breast or butt-crack must be shown before it's a felony?

traditionalguy said...

I thought that any Penis getting off the reservation was a crime in Hillary Land.

This team will all vote for Trump. Camille Paglia has an opinion today that men will go Viking with Trump.

Ron Winkleheimer said...

It is a ridiculous story. But it's also an example of the overzealousness of the American justice system. After all, why were police and prosecutors involved in the first place?

Now I have to agree with Vox. I hate that. Also, Fernandinande nails it.

Good job Fernandinande!

tim maguire said...

If he identified as female, then he wouldn't have a penis. Not sure what it would be called then, but surely not a penis as females don't have those.

Ron Winkleheimer said...

Its the football team, they share locker room facilities.

I'm pretty sure they have seen that guy's wang doodle before.

Curious George said...

In my senior yearbook all the guys on the golf team extended their middle fingers down the shaft of the clubs they were holding for the team photo. Funny. They have nothing on this kid though.

Ron Winkleheimer said...

I'm picturing the look of incredulity each and everyone of those players had on their face when the authorities asked them to press charges for this "crime."

Way to engender respect for authority dumb asses.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NpecF_JfdtQ

HoodlumDoodlum said...

Ann Althouse said...The government had 69 possible complainants, and not one would side with the prosecution. Nice teamwork.

Maybe they all independently decided that the offense wasn't worth pressing charges over, or that they themselves didn't find it to be an offense at all. Maybe it was a conspiracy/teamwork or maybe it wasn't.

Anyway the phrase is "now that's fuckin' teamwork. (lyrics NSFW)

azbadger said...

The fact that the photo made it into the yearbook and past the eyes of so many editors and others who reviewed it doesn't say much for the kid's manhood. In any case, to borrow a phrase from Glenn Reynolds, the prosecutors should be tarred and feathered. They should, instead, be looking into those cold cases from last Halloween where numerous houses were TP'ed.

dreams said...

If he had been in a woman's restroom, no problem.

HoodlumDoodlum said...

Personally I find this body shaming just reprehensible. This young person was just expressing himself and exploring his sexuality--exhibitionism is a valid means of sexual expression and all sexual behavior is healthy. How dare the police and authorities attempt to impose their regressive morality on this young person--what, does he have to conform to the Taliban's demands now and subvert his own sexual health because some WHITE MAN wants to put their WHITE LAWS on his body? No, he/she/xer deserves better--they deserve our appreciation and support.

Free the Springfield 2!

YoungHegelian said...

Jeezo-peep, what a pecker head!

Mary Beth said...

The photo was used in programs and was in the yearbook (which they have recalled). No one noticed until someone told on him.

His first mistake was doing something stupid on a dare. His second mistake was talking to the police and admitting he did it. I'm glad they dropped the charges. I don't see how anyone was harmed by something they didn't notice.

Dude1394 said...

So who filed the complaint in the first case to get him arrested?

Jon Burack said...

Hey, if he'd done this in a bathroom in North Carolina, the DOJ would be defending him against state bathroom segregation laws

Birches said...

There's hope for our Nation.

Bob Boyd said...

Eric the Fruit Bat said...
"What is the top of a penis?"

The part that's uppermost in your mind.

Rick said...

Birches said...
There's hope for our Nation.


Americans aren't nearly as stupid as our officials.

Etienne said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Bruce Hayden said...

The other 69 potential claimants were on the football team with him. Which is why none of them were about to press charges, even if they were offended, which they weren't. The important word there is "team". We are talking extreme male bonding here, and anyone who did it would be shunned.

Joe said...

Why didn't he just argue that he self-identified as an exhibitionist. Or was in contempt of his penis and wanted to be a woman?

Etienne said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Rosalyn C. said...

@Meade Thanks for the laugh! Hilarious.

MadisonMan said...

So who filed the complaint in the first case to get him arrested?

Yes. One assumes an Asst Vice Principal or a teacher called.

It's unfortunate that the Prosecutor has zero common sense. Jeeze. Now there are 70 more young men who have withering contempt for Prosecutors. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

Wilbur said...

In most jurisdictions - I cannot speak for this one - this occurs when a police officer gets a wild hair and makes an arrest charging a ridiculous number of counts for something that should have never been an arrestable offense in the first place.

The prosecutor's office then has to clean up the mess. I can't guarantee that's what happened here, but I'd make a sizeable wager the first they heard of it was when the arrest report hit their office.

HoodlumDoodlum said...

Ok, I guess someone has to play devil's advocate and stick up for the prosecutor; may as well be me.

Filing 69 counts is excessive, I grant, but what this kid did (as captured in the picture) was to intentionally expose himself, and that's a crime. If the police and prosecutor, having been presented with this evidence, had decided to do nothing this time they'd have to answer why. When the next case of exposure/public indecency came forward (so to speak) and they did decide to prosecute they'd have to articulate why that case was bad enough to go after the person but this case wasn't. This case featured particularly egregious behavior even if the actual harm wasn't very great--the law-breaker was practically daring the authorities to punish him, and declining to take any action would set a precedent and send a message that rules and laws can be flagrantly broken with no consequence. That's a particularly bad message to send to young people (perhaps especially to young male athletes) and sending such a message mean miseducating everyone involved.
The decision to file so many charges was a bad one. The decision to pursue law enforcement action against someone who deliberately violated the law in an egregious manner was not neccessarily a bad one.

How'd I do?

Mary Beth said...


And now the boys on the team know how to stick together when somebody pulls a Jameis Winston and the girl can't remember how her clothes came off...

Heh. (How can she be harmed if she didn't really "notice" what was happening?)

Such gentlemen we are raising today. Divorced moms applaud.


Because the level of harm from rape and a team photo are the same? (NSFW but only if you have a really good imagination.)

I take back what I said before. Talking to the police was his third mistake. According to the story I linked to, he had bragged about the photo on social media. That was his second mistake.

Please clap.

Unknown said...

The state exposes the top of a penis everywhere the prosecutor goes.

Unknown said...

At least the trans kid with his cock out in the girls' locker room is safe.

Ann Althouse said...

"Maybe they all independently decided that the offense wasn't worth pressing charges over, or that they themselves didn't find it to be an offense at all. Maybe it was a conspiracy/teamwork or maybe it wasn't."

When members of a team independently decide to do what supports a teammate, I call that "teamwork."

dreams said...

Boys will be boys though not as likely by a transgender boy, I'm assuming.

HoodlumDoodlum said...

Ann Althouse said...When members of a team independently decide to do what supports a teammate, I call that "teamwork."

Do you have any term to distinguish between actions taken independently (by team members) and actions taken collectively (by the team as a whole) in a coordinated manner? I don't have an OED handy, but the first definition of teamwork the Google box gives (from Dictionary.com) is cooperative or coordinated effort on the part of a group of persons acting together as a team or in the interests of a common cause so the "coordinated" nature of the effort seems important for the common definition. I'm sure you can argue that independent (uncoordinated) actions can nevertheless be cooperative...but the same source gives the definition of cooperative as working or acting together willingly for a common purpose or benefit so once again the concept of intentional cooperation is a part of your definition.
Now, in this case it seems fair to assume that some, if not most, of the players coordinated their actions (even if informally) and I'm not really arguing that they didn't. I am arguing, though, that we don't have any evidence that they DID, and I'm further arguing that the common understanding of the word "teamwork" involves something other than wholly-independent and uncoordinated actions taken by a group on behalf of some common goal.
The SuperPACs and candidate campaigns both have the goal of getting their person elected, but if they work together (as a team) it's coordination and that's illegal, so accusing them of engaging in "teamwork" means something different under the common definition (as I've argued it) and yours.

robother said...

Wait till the prosecutor finds out about the habitual pattern of indecent exposure in the locker room showers. Much more to this story than meets the eye. The team photo is just the tip of the iceberg.

dreams said...

I think of it as teamwork as in "one for all and all for one."

HoodlumDoodlum said...

dreams said...I think of it as teamwork as in "one for all and all for one."

That's team spirit. Team work would be acting on that belief (in some coordinated manner).

Teen spirit, on the other hand, isn't something that's as easily defined, but you know it when you smell it.

Unknown said...

I'm glans you blogged about this story, Ann.

HoodlumDoodlum said...

Steven Davis said...
I'm glans you blogged about this story, Ann.


Maybe the Professor's done discussing it, but when thinking about teamwork and the distinction between coordinated and uncoordinated action, I maintain there's a vas deferens.

n.n said...

Lowered expectations...

This goes to the normalization of transgender orientations. "=" or selective exclusion can only be sustained with a pro-choice religion. Still, the reaction was punitive, rather than disciplinary.

Jake said...

Good.

Wince said...

Heh, heh, heh... they said sixty-nine.

JaimeRoberto said...

The top or the tip? Or the tip top?

RMc said...

69 complaints for showing a penis.

You truly can't make this stuff up.

Sal said...

"Wait till the prosecutor finds out about the habitual pattern of indecent exposure in the locker room showers."

Or who they expose it to in the back seat of a car.

Static Ping said...

Why would they press charges? They've seen it before, most likely. Football team, showers, etc.

The only real question here is if the preferred one-liner uses the 69 or the "no one noticed" angle. I'm pretty sure they cannot be combined as everyone notices a 69.

azbadger said...

Wibur: "In most jurisdictions - I cannot speak for this one - this occurs when a police officer gets a wild hair and makes an arrest charging a ridiculous number of counts for something that should have never been an arrestable offense in the first place."

I doubt it. The reason is police generally are barred in most jurisdictions from making an arrest without a warrant unless it is witnessed by the officer or on the speedy information of others, such as the victim of a domestic assault. Given the time lapse, there likely was a warrant which generally must be signed off by a prosecutor.

I would suspect the prosecutors were involved from the outset and the prosecutor approved the 70 counts. This does not appear to be a case where the prosecutors were cleaning up a mess created by cops.

David said...

A Dick Move that worked.

Anonymous said...

Cops are fucking morons.

That kid was such a dumb ass it's difficult to be sympathetic with him, but the cops, the fucking ignorant, moronic cops, made him a sympathetic character.

Do you have to be a moron to be a cop, or is it just helpful?

Jupiter said...

Since when does someone have to press charges? Murder victims don't press charges. Prostitution victims don't press charges. The victims of drug dealers don't press charges. I call bullshit.