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Lawyers challenge ticketing of homeless

SAN DIEGO, Nov. 19 (UPI) -- Lawyers filed a class-action lawsuit against the San Diego Police Department for violating the Constitution by ticketing the homeless for sleeping in public.

The lawsuit was filed Thursday in San Diego federal court on behalf of nine homeless people in the area who were issued illegal-lodging tickets on nights when homeless shelters had no facilities to accommodate them, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported.

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"The issue is whether being homeless is a status crime -- whether homeless people are being prosecuted for existing," said Tim Cohelan, one of the lawyers in the case who seek a federal court order to stop police from issuing the citations.

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