MI: Fed court rules in favor of man arrested for cursing

[KBCraig]

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20070203/D8N1UONG0.html

Court Rules for Man Arrested for Cursing
Feb 2, 8:58 PM (ET)

By JEFF KAROUB

DETROIT (AP) - An officer who arrested a man for cursing in a public meeting violated the man's right to free speech, a federal appeals court ruled Friday.

The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a lower court's decision that Montrose Township police officer Stephen Robinson had probable cause to arrest Thomas Leonard in 2002 when Leonard cursed while addressing the township board.

"It cannot be seriously contended that any reasonable peace officer, or citizen, for that matter, would believe that mild profanity while peacefully advocating a political position could constitute a criminal act," the three-judge panel wrote in Friday's decision.

"All our client did was get up at a public meeting and express himself vigorously, and he was arrested for it," said Glen Lenhoff, Leonard's attorney.

At the time, Leonard's wife, Sarah, was suing the township over a towing contract. Thomas Leonard accused the board members in the meeting of cheating his family and saying, "That's why you're in a goddamn lawsuit."

Robinson arrested Leonard, charging him with disorderly conduct and using obscene language. He was held in jail for an hour, and the charges were dismissed a month later.

Leonard sued in 2003, claiming the arrest violated his Fourth Amendment right to freedom from unreasonable seizure and, in a later motion, his First Amendment right to free speech. He sought at least $25,000 in damages.

Ralph Chapa, a partner in the law firm representing Robinson, said his firm is considering an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

A U.S. District Court judge dropped the charges against Robinson in 2005, agreeing with the officer that he had probable cause to arrest Leonard. The case is to go back to the lower court, pending further appeals.

[anthonybpugh]

He was arrested for saying God Damned?  are they goddamned insane? 

[Caleb]

Why is a federal court getting involved in this issue, though?  Under which article and clause of the constitution is it basing its jurisdiction?

[lordmetroid]

Maybe the free speech or you shall make no law prohibiting religion?

[error]

Maybe under federal civil rights statutes words written on a goddamned piece of paper.

[burnthebeautiful]

I was shocked when FTL said "GD piece of paper" when covering the story about Bush calling the constitution that. I'd never heard of "God Damned" having to be censored before. You're allowed to say "nigger" on network tv (the word has recently been said on both the CW sitcom My Name is Chris, and NBC's drama Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip), but you're not allowed to say goddamned?

[aries]

I was shocked when FTL said "GD piece of paper" when covering the story about Bush calling the constitution that. I'd never heard of "God Damned" having to be censored before. You're allowed to say "nigger" on network tv (the word has recently been said on both the CW sitcom My Name is Chris, and NBC's drama Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip), but you're not allowed to say goddamned?

You can only say nigger on network TV if you're black, otherwise it's censored. Really. And you have to speak it ebonically.

[slim]

I was shocked when FTL said "GD piece of paper" when covering the story about Bush calling the constitution that. I'd never heard of "God Damned" having to be censored before. You're allowed to say "nigger" on network tv (the word has recently been said on both the CW sitcom My Name is Chris, and NBC's drama Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip), but you're not allowed to say goddamned?

I was also shocked about that but after a few minutes I thought they probably did that so they did not offend any of the radio stations especially since one of Mark's secrets was revealed.

[burnthebeautiful]

I was shocked when FTL said "GD piece of paper" when covering the story about Bush calling the constitution that. I'd never heard of "God Damned" having to be censored before. You're allowed to say "nigger" on network tv (the word has recently been said on both the CW sitcom My Name is Chris, and NBC's drama Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip), but you're not allowed to say goddamned?

You can only say nigger on network TV if you're black, otherwise it's censored. Really. And you have to speak it ebonically.

On My Name Is Chris, the guy saying it was white. The context was Chris, a black kid, is at his first day of school, and the school bully calls Chris a nigger, for no particular reason. I was kind of shocked when I heard it, if only for the fact that I'd never heard that word be said on network TV before. I did a quick Google search to see if the FCC had recently decided to 'legalize' the word or something, but didn't find anything.

Bitch and slut can also be said on network TV, which in my subjective opinion are 'worse' words than god-damn. I guess it's just too controversial to 'damn' god.

[mvpel]

Michigan's a bit of an unusual case since they've had a specific statewide public profanity law on the books for around 100 years or more.  One guy got busted after he fell out of his canoe and uttered some choice oaths.