Solicitation With Birds, or Merely Extending the ‘Aloha Spirit’?

The Hawaii Supreme Court rules that a man photographing people with his birds should not have been convicted.

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Check out this story from Courthouse News Service about a man who said he was “merely extending ‘his aloha spirit'” in photographing people with his birds and should not have been convicted of solicitation.

Prosecutors had charged James Abel in 2012 with soliciting with live animals in public in Waikiki. He was convicted and charged $330.

The Intermediate Court of Appeals affirmed Abel’s conviction, says CNS, “crediting the state’s contention that it need not prove that an actual request for money occurred.”

But, on Sept. 24, the Hawaii Supreme Court ruled otherwise, “finding the evidence insufficient to support the conviction.”

You can read the original brief here.

A bird in Waikiki

For the bird.

Flickr: Kim

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