BORF heading to DC Jail (Graf related)
Birdman9
5,417 Posts
From Washington Post today:Borf Gets Month in Jail And Rebuke for GraffitiGraffitist to Spend Month in D.C. Jail[/b]By Henri E. CauvinWashington Post Staff WriterFriday, February 10, 2006; B09The teenage graffiti vandal known as Borf got tagged yesterday -- with 30 days in the D.C. jail and a dressing-down that no one in the courtroom will soon forget.Borf, aka John Tsombikos, chose not to address the judge who was deciding his fate. But D.C. Superior Court Judge Lynn Leibovitz had a lot to say to the young anarchist from Northern Virginia. She didn't paint a pretty picture."You profess to despise rich people," she said. "You profess to despise the faceless, nameless forms of government that oppress. That's what you've become. That's what you are. You're a rich kid who comes into Washington and defaces property because you feel like it. It's not fair. It's not right."Prolific like few local taggers before him, the 18-year-old Tsombikos left the Borf mark at dozens of places all over the District, from daring, eye-catching expositions such as the tagging of a wall above a Cosi on Connecticut Avenue to cruder, less memorable efforts such as the spray-painting of a dumpster on a side street.The moniker, prosecutors said, was the nickname of a friend who killed himself in October 2003 in Silver Spring, and references in court to a confidential pre-sentence report on Tsombikos suggested that he has been deeply troubled by his friend's death.Whatever the inspiration, the tag seemed to be everywhere for a time, to the frustration of property owners, police and city workers responsible for cleaning up graffiti. The judge said there was no justification for it."That's not artistic expression," she said. "That is not political expression. That is not grief therapy. That is vandalism."Caught early one morning last summer as he defaced a Howard University building, Tsombikos was charged with destruction of property. The arrest and subsequent media attention seemed to heighten his notoriety. Copycats emerged, eager to fill the breach.In December, he pleaded guilty to the felony charge. Yesterday, the prosecutor, Assistant U.S. Attorney Cynthia Wright, urged the judge to lock him up. It was an unusual request for a first-time offender in a property crime.But the judge did not need much convincing. What mattered to Leibovitz -- and what Tsombikos seemed not to understand -- was that ordinary people had been affected by the mess he created."It's not about whether you want to express yourself," she said. "Washington, D.C., is not a playground that was built for your self-expression. It's a place where people, real people, live and care about their communities."Nothing that took place in the months before he pleaded guilty in December and nothing that has happened since seems to have awakened him to that fact, she said.He showed up for one hearing last fall wearing paint-splattered clothing. And while his case was still pending in the District, Tsombikos got in more trouble. He was arrested on the Upper East Side of Manhattan on suspicion of defacing a streetlight box, ruining his chances of probation."You should have been walking out of the front door of this courtroom today," Leibovitz told him. "Unfortunately, I have come to the conclusion that you require more than that to impress upon you the seriousness of what you've done. Not because it's a wall, not because it's a building, not because it's a fixture in some abstract sense. But because of people."Standing next to his attorney, Michael Madden, Tsombikos stood in silence as the judge spoke. His father watched from among a courtroom full of spectators.The 30-day jail term is just the start. If Tsombikos breaks the law again within the next three years, he could be jailed for the 17 suspended months of his sentence. Regardless, he has to complete 200 hours of community service, including 80 hours of cleaning up graffiti. And he must pay $12,000 in restitution, money that better not come out of his parents' bank accounts, the judge said."In other words," she said, "not the bogus jobs that your father gives you in New York . . . a real job, going to work like the people you demean, earning it with paychecks and the sweat of your own brow."But it was the prospect of a month at the jail that most worried Madden, who had asked for probation and pleaded with the judge to at least send Tsombikos to a halfway house.She wouldn't budge, and she made it clear why."I want him to see what the inside of the D.C. jail looks like," she said, "because unlike every other person you've seen in my courtroom this morning, who have a ninth-grade education, who are drug-addicted, who have had childhoods the likes of which you could not conceive, you come from privilege and opportunity and seem to think that the whole world is just like McLean and just like East 68th Street."Well," she said, "it's not."
Comments
Interesting.
And as for her comments about where the cash comes from too pay his fines....
It seems to me he is being over-penalised due to the fact that he appears to come from a "good" background.
Seems ridiculous to me the amount of people who just get a slap on the wrist for crimes a lot more serious than this and they lock people up for graffiti...
PRIORITIES PEOPLE PRIORITIES!!!!
With all that's wrong with DC, I'm kinda wondering what the priorities here are.
Graf as art is an absolute artform. In the Gallery world....your own building...your place of business...let's faced it, large pieces can be BEAUTIFUL. However, when it encroaches on EVERYONE else's freedoms (private property, business owners, public buildings, a church) I have no tolorance for it. Regardless as to wether it is my home, my business, a public building I care about or even a church (which i do not or will not ever attend), it is absolutely disrespectful.
Jail time...sounds fucking harsh to me for some poor stupid 18 year old of privilege, but hopefully it will send a message to all that this really does make a city a filthy looking place. i feel sorry for the cat, but glad he's locked up for a month.
I say good! LOL!
Ooh dangerous talk, there are few people round here that could get jail for that...
I agree with most of what the judge had to say, at least the spirit of it. Wealthy White people too often assume they will get the soft end of the stick in the justice system. And I think his attitude in how he approached his case showed he indeed didn't think he would have to pay the piper much. And I don't think a month in city jail is terribly harsh in the great grand scheme of doing time for your crime. Sucks to be him,no doubt, but you gotta pay to play.
Look, bombing is a crime and any real fucking bomber knows that and deals with the consequences. I know a few graf cats who are hard as nails and if they go down for something or have to go into hiding for a while that's what the fuck it is. Most of these cats don't have some nice hired lawyer and family money to help them beat the case.
The kid was copping a plea cause he knows it is not sweet where he's going. So good. Let him understand that. I'm not anti graf, I'm anti rich kids who think shit is sweet and want to get a slap on the wrist for committing the same crimes that get poor kids locked down. Fuck that.
I don't think anyone should be jailed for it rich,poor,white or black Its a petty crime and I don't see the logic of locking people up in prison when that money could be used to lock up somebody who is a lot more detrimental to society.
That is not reality. You don't walk down Broadway smoking a blunt because you think marijuana should be decriminalized, and you don't go bombing thinking "well, I shouldn't get locked up for this"
But as usual crimes against property are considerd worse than crime against the person...
The funny thing is if the situation was reversed and he wasn't well off and white most of you would be playing the bleeding heart game for him then...
This is the kind of full-of-shit statement that I've come to expect here.
If he wasn't well off, and white, he wouldn't have made the news the same way, he wouldn't have had attempted plea bargains. He probably wouldn't have been violated because he wouldn't have been able to post bail.
I mean look, this kind of hypothetical BS is not productive. I see your point, and ideally a whole slew of laws and punishment would be different, but graf artists that think they are immune or don't take the consequences of their acts into account are just that much more toyish.
How is him paying his societal due gonna stop them from locking up other criminals? They lock folks up every day for the crimes you mention. Your argument makes no sense.
Drug dealers and pimps who get pinched say the same tired shit. "We ain't hurting nobody", but someone is always on the short end in illegal activity. And dude only got one month for what could easily add up to THOUSANDS in property damage to private and public property. Not to mention how hot he has made it for other graf artists who might actually be into doing something visually appealing as opposed to just the same ugly stenciled faces all over. I don't think this kid got anything that wasn't coming to him. people do more time for less all the damn time and you will never see it in the papers.
This kid will either get out of jail and go right back to bombing under a different name, or he will quit.
Maybe he will choose more usable letters next time.
Hahahahaha
haha WORD
I'd like to see people say that it is petty crime when it is their home/business/car etc. that gets completely ruined.