Kayla Sosnow, a Florida woman, this week hailed as a victory for women's rights a court ruling that cleared her of disturbing the peace when she bared her breasts during a camp-out in a state forest.
Sosnow organised the news conference after Florida's Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals last month threw out her conviction on a disorderly conduct charge -- which incorporates disturbing the peace -- on the grounds that only the police officer who made the arrest had objected to her partial nudity.
The court found no proof that any member of the public was disturbed when Sosnow bared her boobs at a 1996 camp-out in the Ocala National Forest in north Florida, sponsored by the Rainbow group, an organization that promotes ecologically sound living.
However, someone ratted Sosnow to a police command post in the forest and reported that Sosnow was walking around topless in the 90-degree heat.
Acting on that tip, an officer went to the campsite and arrested Sosnow, who served 20 days in jail. But the appeals court said the anonymous tip was hearsay that should not have been admitted as evidence in her trial.
"Because the tip was the only evidence that anyone was offended or bothered by defendant's conduct, without it the state could not prove its case," the appeals court said.
Florida has no statewide law requiring women to cover their breasts, though many cities and counties have local ordinances requiring it. In areas where no such ordinances exist, police have relied on the disorderly conduct statutes to arrest topless women.
In recent rulings, however, the state appeals courts have said bare-breasted women should not be arrested simply because a police officer saw that they were topless. The rulings have held that disorderly conduct must disturb someone other than a law enforcement official.
