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Irish pair vandalized US flag to prove their love for America claims Tennessee attorney

Dublin friends agree to pay costs after drunken shenanigans and flag theft

By
PATRICK COUNIHAN,
IrishCentral.com Staff Writer
Published Sunday, February 26, 2012, 8:05 AM
Updated Sunday, February 26, 2012, 8:05 AM

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Two drunken Irishmen who stole an American flag in Knoxville Tennessee have claimed the act was proof they loved the USA.
Two drunken Irishmen who stole an American flag in Knoxville Tennessee have claimed the act was proof they loved the USA.


The lawyer representing two drunken Irishmen who stole an American flag in Knoxville Tennessee has claimed their act was proof they loved the USA.

Dubliners John Patrick Kerrigan and James Mulroy were found guilty of vandalism and misdemeanour theft after they stole the flag last January and took photos of themselves wrapped in it, reports Knox News.

Their lawyer claimed to a court in Knoxville that the act was proof positive of their love for America – and they have the pictures to prove it.

The pair jumped from a taxi last January and stole the flag from the TVA building in downtown Knoxville before draping themselves in it and taking the photographs.

Kerrigan, 33, and Mulroy, 28, cut the flagpole rope at the TVA building off Summit Hill Drive to bring the flag down and then ran off with it into the Crowne Plaza hotel where they were staying.

The Dublin duo confessed to the theft in Knox County General Sessions Court ,but their attorney Tommy Hindman insisted it was an act of American patriotism, admittedly a drunken one.

As evidence to back-up his theory, he cited a cell phone picture showing one of the two passed out with the flag wrapped around his body.

“That’s how much they loved America,” Hindman jokingly told the court.

Hindman revealed that Kerrigan and Mulroy have agreed to pay TVA $2,200 to replace the flag. If they pay that amount along with court costs and behave themselves for the next year, the charges will be dropped as part of a plea deal.

The attorney also dismissed reports that the pair had stolen the flag at the behest of actor Colin Farrell who was in town at the time of their act.

“I asked them if they knew Colin Farrell,” he said. “They said, ‘Who?’"

​
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10 Comments

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IrelandNorth | Feb 27, 2012, 05:37 AM EST
GeorgeDillon! Are British fools and drunks welcome? As an ex-Irish military serviceman from Dublin, I do however appreciate the symbolism of raising a national flag at dawn, and lowering it again at dusk. It should never fly at night, and never touch the ground. Occasionally, the flag of an ex-imperial power is lowered for good over occupied territory, like the British Union flag at Dublin Castle, in 1922, (see Neil Jordan's film 'Michael Collins'), and over Stormont Castle in Belfast in 2022 (?).

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GeorgeDillon | Feb 27, 2012, 01:46 AM EST
What are these poster's whining about? Where is bogsidebunny's post? Is Irish Central censoring again?

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cillowen | Feb 26, 2012, 09:00 PM EST
patriotic urges and schnaps can turn a body into a lover of freedom.

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sirpeter | Feb 26, 2012, 06:20 PM EST
bogsidebunny = A bitter twisted old Billy Bit*h.

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seanomelb | Feb 26, 2012, 04:37 PM EST
georgie boy has a new pal bogside bunny. They should return home the village longs for its idiots.

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Timmos | Feb 26, 2012, 03:31 PM EST
Aside from fairly minor vandalism and theft - I'm assuming they gave the flag back - I don't see much harm in it. Smack them on the wrist and give them a year's worth of community service. It made me laugh more than anything.

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wdwrkr371 | Feb 26, 2012, 12:22 PM EST
Bogsidebunny. Jeffery Dahmer,Ted Bundy,John Wayne Gacy etc were all American, so by your logic should I as an Irish man assume that all Americans are serial killers. Why do you insist on painting everyone with one brush it ruins the discussion.I of course think these two deserve the full extent of the law, but can we please point out they are individuals not countries. I live in America and we all seem to get along and treat each other with respect with the exception of cases like this and on these comment boards.So please please please I really like this site but it really ruins days for me when I read these constant cheap shots being thrown from both sides Irish and American.

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joycean | Feb 26, 2012, 12:21 PM EST
The charges are "vandalism" and theft. Perhaps the vandalism was cutting the rope, which brought the flag down. Perhaps their attorney called it "patriotism," but I'd agree, that the term only applies to one's own country.

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Meniskos | Feb 26, 2012, 11:46 AM EST
Irish Central, like many other online publications, sorely needs a copy editor. Software applications cannot stop wrong word usage. The two men stole the flag but did not vandalize it, although they were charged with destroying public property while doing that). Also,Irishmen cannot show patriotism for a country that is not theirs either.

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GeorgeDillon | Feb 26, 2012, 09:30 AM EST
Let's hope they get kicked out of our country with a big fat Endorsement on their passports informing them not to come back, Irish fools and drunks are not wanted here.

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