Summary
The Nebraska Supreme Court affirmed Kenneth W. Grant Jr.'s convictions under Lincoln municipal ordinances for disturbing the peace and assault or menacing threats. The court held that the disturbing-the-peace ordinance could constitutionally regulate Grant's speech through reasonable, content-neutral time, place, and manner restrictions, and that sufficient evidence supported both convictions and the concurrent 10-day jail sentences.
Topics
Practice areas
Questions Presented
- Whether Grant's conviction for disturbing the peace violated the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and article I, section 5, of the Nebraska Constitution because the underlying speech was constitutionally protected.
- Whether sufficient evidence supported Grant's conviction for assault or menacing threats under the language reproduced in the State's complaint.
- Whether the concurrent 10-day jail sentences were excessive or constituted an abuse of discretion.
Holdings
- Even assuming Grant's speech was constitutionally protected and did not constitute an unprotected category such as fighting words or true threats, the disturbing-the-peace ordinance could constitutionally regulate the speech as a reasonable, content-neutral time, place, and manner restriction.
- The evidence was sufficient to support Grant's conviction because his statement that he would put bullets in Ponce's boyfriend constituted a promise of punishment, reprisal, or distress, and the circumstances showed an intent to cause distress.
- The concurrent 10-day jail sentences were within the applicable limits and were not an abuse of discretion.
- When a defendant challenges the sufficiency of the evidence under a municipal ordinance but fails to include the ordinance in the record, the appellate court may use the ordinance's text as reproduced in the State's long-form complaint and give that language its plain and ordinary meaning.
Key quotations
“The police power of a state extends beyond health, morals, and safety, and comprehends the duty, within constitutional limitations, to protect the well-being and tranquility of a community, including the power to prevent disturbing noises.” (714)
“In either a traditional or designated public forum, the government may impose reasonable restrictions on the time, place, or manner of protected speech, provided the restrictions (1) are content neutral as to both subject matter and viewpoint, (2) are narrowly tailored to serve a significant governmental interest, and (3) leave open ample alternative channels for communication of the information.” (714-715)
“Grant would have been free to communicate the same content in a number of different forms as long as it was communicated in a quieter manner.” (715-716)
Factual background
Grant shouted from his apartment balcony at people across the street for approximately 30 minutes to an hour, using vulgar, racial, lewd, and increasingly violent language. He told Jennifer Ponce that he would put bullets in her boyfriend and made comments intended to disrupt or agitate her while she worked. The shouting was loud enough and continued long enough to disturb Ponce, Gregory Patterson, and others on nearby private property, prompting Ponce to call police. Grant was convicted under Lincoln ordinances of disturbing the peace and assault or menacing threats.
Procedural history
Grant was convicted after a bench trial in Lancaster County Court and received concurrent 10-day jail sentences. The district court affirmed on appeal. The Nebraska Supreme Court affirmed both convictions and the sentences.