Disabled man, 42, faces jail for LAUGHING too loudly in his own home

Robert Schiavelli's neighbour complained and he now faces 30 days in jail

But Schiavelli said the neighbour has teased him for his disability for years and he was simply laughing off the man's remarks



A disabled man faces jail for laughing too loudly in his own home after his neighbour complained he could hear his loud guffaws across the driveway.

Robert Schiavelli, 42, of Rockville Centre, New York has been accused of 'disturbing the peace' after police were called to his home on February 12 and 13 after receiving complaints.

But Schiavelli, who is considered disabled because he suffers from neurological impairments and suffers seizures, said he was just laughing off the neighbour's offensive remarks about his disability.

Accused: Robert Schiavelli, 42, has been served two summonses after a neighbour complained about his laugh

He and his mother, who also lives at the home, claim that the neighbour, Daniel O'Hanian, has ridiculed Schiavelli for years and 'sneered' at the man on the day of the first complaint.

To cope with the alleged treatment, he has learned to laugh it off, he said.

'What else are you supposed to do when someone calls you a retard?' Schiavelli, who graduated from high school as a special-education student, said to the New York Post .

'The last time I checked, it was not a crime to laugh - except in Rockville Centre.'

Scene: Robert Schiavelli, who lives in the home on the left, claims he only laughed when his neighbour Daniel Ohanian, who lives on the right, sneered at him for his disability

'Targeted': Robert lives at the home with his mother Susanne (pictured), who said she saw the neighbour sneer at her son before he started laughing on the day the complaints were made

But he was slapped with two summons, which each carry a $250 fine or 15 days in jail. They allege he acted ' in such a manner as to annoy, disturb, interfere with, obstruct, or be offensive to others'.

'It's absurd,' his lawyer Andrew Campanelli told the Post. 'My client faces 30 days in jail for laughing.'



'The last time I checked, it was not a crime to laugh' Robert Schiavelli



At his Schiavelli 's arraignment on Tuesday, Campanelli called his client a 'gentle giant' and said that he had learned to respond to offensive remarks from his neighbours by laughing.



Schiavelli and his mother Susanne, 65, have been embroiled in a years-long dispute with O'H anian, the Post reported.

His mother defended her son, telling CBS New York that he had ' an infectious, cute laugh, I love it. It makes me want to laugh'.



O'Hanian’s wife, Virginia, told the Post that 'the police investigated and found there was cause' for the summonses, but her husband did not comment.

