Veteran Charged With Crime of Getting Upset at the VA?

You just can't make this stuff up anymore when the truth is so much stranger than fiction.

Vet's conviction upheld for "loud and boisterous" conduct at Palo Alto VA hospital
Inside Bay Area.com
By Howard Mintz
POSTED: 11/21/2014

A Bay Area veteran has lost an unusual legal challenge to a seldom-used federal law that criminalizes "loud, boisterous and unusual noise" at Veterans Affairs facilities.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday upheld Louis Agront Sr.'s 2013 conviction for disruptive conduct at the Palo Alto VA hospital, rejecting his lawyers' arguments that the law applied to the incident is so vague that it is unconstitutional.

"One may reasonably question the wisdom or necessity of the citation and of the prosecution that followed," 9th Circuit Judge Raymond Fisher wrote for a unanimous three-judge panel. "But Agront has not shown it was unconstitutional."

The ruling stems from a 2011 confrontation at the Palo Alto VA hospital, where Agront's family brought him for treatment. The family, court papers say, told Agront he was being treated for an injured knee, but they actually wanted the hospital to examine him for "unusual behavior" and a sudden weight loss.

Once Agront consulted with VA staffers about his treatment, he grew upset and stormed out of the hospital, leading to a loud confrontation with his son outside, according to court records. A VA police officer tried to calm Agront, but he resisted and was arrested.

Federal prosecutors charged Agront with a misdemeanor for violating the VA "unusual noise" statute. He was sentenced to six months probation and a $50 fine, but a federal public defender challenged the constitutionality of the law.
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