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Yet another glorious example of lawyers at their best

Last December, there was a little art shindig going on at Boston’s newly-opened Institute of Contemporary Art. Cambridge artist Gloretta Baynes was at the party having a conversation when a 67-year-old local attorney came over. She had never met Stephen Kunian before, but she claims he jumped into the conversation and appeared to be interested in an African necklace peaking out of her zippered jacket. Baynes alleges that Kunian then put his hands on each side of the jacket and ripped it open, busting the zipper and exposing her undergarments and some boobage. She says that he said something along the lines of: “Oh, I’m sorry, I thought you were wearing something underneath.”

So Kunian has now been charged with assault, after a hearing found sufficient evidence to sustain the criminal charge. Kunian, of course, claims that this is all nutty - he says it’s a shakedown, which is why she came to him before going to the authorities, asking for $500,000. His attorney added that the case is total junk and that Kunian is “one of the finest gentleman ever created on this earth.”

And that seems like a pretty bold statement in this situation. I mean, you figure there were witnesses to this event who probably saw what happened and who gave testimony at the hearing. If the witness gave other testimony, the criminal charges probably would not have stuck. So even if we believe that Kunian was simply interested in the necklace and did think she was fully clothed underneath, it still sounds like assault. Besides, would a “fine gentleman” really rip a woman’s jacket open to look at a necklace instead of asking, “excuse me, can I see your necklace?”

Posted by Seth on May 1, 2007 | Comments (1)