Case Name: The People of the State of New York, Respondent, v. Mohamed T. Mehdi, Ghazi Khahkan and Mohamed M. Rabie, Appellants
Court: New York Court of Appeals
Jurisdiction: New York
Decision Date: 1971-11-24
Citations: 29 N.Y.2d 824
Docket Number: 
Parties: The People of the State of New York, Respondent, v. Mohamed T. Mehdi, Ghazi Khahkan and Mohamed M. Rabie, Appellants.
Judges: 
Reporter: New York Reports
Volume: 29
Pages: 824–828

Head Matter:
The People of the State of New York, Respondent, v. Mohamed T. Mehdi, Ghazi Khahkan and Mohamed M. Rabie, Appellants.
Argued October 19, 1971;
decided November 24, 1971.
Robert W. Thabit for appellants.
Frank S. Hogan, District Attorney (David L. Levinson and Michael R. Juviler of counsel), -for respondent.
Eldon V. C. Greenberg and Kay Ellen Hayes for New York Civil Liberties Union, amicus curiae.

Opinion:
Memorandum.
The order of the Appellate Term should be reversed and the complaint dismissed on the ground that the evidence at the trial failed to establish, beyond a reasonable doubt, that the defendants were guilty of disorderly conduct under subdivision 7 of section 240.20 of the Penal Law; more specifically, there is absent from the record the essential quantum of proof that the defendants, ' ' with intent to cause public inconvenience, annoyance or alarm, or recklessly creating a risk thereof create [d] a hazardous or physically offensive condition " by their burning of the flag. Intentional or reckless creation of a hazard is not established merely by the subjective conclusion of the police officer that there was a crowd and restraining barriers or that a small fire might have caused or threatened injury to relatively passive bystanders or sympathizers.
In this view, we do not reach the constitutional argument advanced by the defendants.