Title: State v. Cleveland
Citation: 205 Kan. 426, 469 P.2d 251
Docket Number: 45,680
State: Kansas
Issuer: Kansas Supreme Court
Date: May 9, 1970

205 Kan. 426 (1970)
469 P.2d 251
STATE OF KANSAS, Appellee,
v.
FRANKLIN CLEVELAND, Appellant.
No. 45,680

Supreme Court of Kansas.
Opinion filed May 9, 1970.
Charles S. Scott, of Scott, Scott and Scott, of Topeka, argued the cause, and J. Nelson Thompson, of Kansas City, Missouri, was with him on the brief for the appellant.
Ronald D. Innes, County Attorney, argued the cause, and Kent Frizzell, Attorney General, was with him on the brief for the appellee.
The opinion of the court was delivered by
HATCHER, C.:
This is an appeal from a conviction and sentence in a prosecution for disturbance of the peace.
The defendant, Franklin Cleveland, was charged with disturbing the peace and quiet of Jim Reynolds and other persons at the Student Union Building of Kansas State University, Manhattan, Kansas, by the use of profane and vulgar language, and rude and challenging behavior, on the 7th day of January, 1969, contra to K.S.A. 21-950. Appellant's case was consolidated for trial with that of Andrew Rollins who had been charged with a similar offense against *427 Michael Huston and other persons on the same occasion. A jury trial was waived and the case was tried before the judge of the district court. Both defendants were found guilty and each fined fifty dollars.
Cleveland has filed a separate appeal.
Michael D. Huston is a corporal in the Marine Corps and a member of officers selection team for the purpose of recruiting officers for the marines. On January 7, 1969, he was working in that capacity in the lobby of the Student Union Building of the Kansas State University. Huston was seated at a table when he was approached by Andrew Rollins and the defendant, Franklin Cleveland. They engaged Huston in conversation by asking him questions and then interrupted his answers. In the course of the dialogue Huston was called a killer, a mercenary and a prostitute. However, that language was mild, indeed, compared to that which was spoken generally. Rollins and the defendant were about eighteen inches from Huston during the episode.
The language used in this shocking dialogue is so disgusting that we will not defile the pages of our reports with a particular recital. It will suffice to state that language was directed to the desecration of motherhood of the most depraved sort. The marines, the flag and the President of the United States were referred to in dissolute, lewd and perverted language.
There were about twenty young men and women in the vicinity of the recruiting table. We will present in some detail the testimony as to the demeanor of the defendant and Rollins and the affect of the dialogue on the people in the area.
James Reynolds, program director, and whose duty it was to supervise the Student Union Building and maintain order, testified:
Another witness testified:
"A. He was accompanying Mr. Rollins at that time.
"Q. And what was his demeanor if you know?
"A. He appeared to be angry.
"A. Yes.
"A. Quite loudly.
There was further testimony by a KBI agent, Robert Clester 
..............
The appellant first contends that the dialogue between the defendant, Rollins and Huston, the marine recruiter, and the context in which the profanity was used, did not constitute the offense of disturbance of the peace within the purview of K.S.A. 21-950. That statute provides:
"Breach of peace" or "disturbance of the peace" is a disturbance of public tranquility or order and may be created by any act which molests inhabitants in the enjoyment of peace and quiet or excites disquietude or fear. It has been said that the public peace to be protected is that invisible sense of security and tranquility so necessary to one's comfort and which every person feels to be under the protection of the law and for which all governments are created. (See 11 C.J.S., Breach of the Peace, § 1, p. 817, and footnotes.)
The court has defined "disturbance of the peace" as that term is used in K.S.A. 21-950. In State v. Hebert, 121 Kan. 329, 246 Pac. 507, we held in the syllabus:
However, it is not necessary that a person be put in fear to constitute a breach of peace. The use of loud and indecent language may be sufficient when public tranquility is disturbed.
In State v. Appleton, 70 Kan. 217, 78 Pac. 445, we stated at page 220:
Again in City of Topeka v. Heitman, 47 Kan. 739, 28 Pac. 1096, we stated on page 740:
A more general application of the statute was given in State v. Stroble, 169 Kan. 167, 217 P.2d 1073, at page 170:
It should be noted that the information charged the disturbance of the peace of Jim Reynolds and other persons. The information not only included Jim Reynolds, the program director for the Student Union Building, but also the marine recruiter and those who "were offended and were moving away." We give consideration not only to the language used but the place in which it was used and where young men and women were expected to congregate.
We are of the opinion that the lewd and indecent language which referred to motherhood in the most obscene and shocking manner, and the profane and perverted language addressed to the marines, the flag and the President of the United States, all in a loud voice, did disturb the feeling of security and tranquility of the young men and women in the lobby of the Student Union Building.
Appellant next contends that he was in the proper exercise of his constitutional rights as provided by the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States and the Bill of Rights of the Constitution of the State of Kansas.
We would state that neither the Constitution of the United States nor the Constitution of the State of Kansas is a license to disturb the peace and tranquility of the respectable young men and women, to be found in a student union building, by the use of loud, lewd and perverted language.
Appellant's main thrust is that "the facts and circumstances are lacking any provocation of violence or disorder, and clear and present danger is not evident."
We have cited numerous Kansas cases holding that indecent language alone may constitute a breach of the peace. However, if we accept appellant's challenge  "what circumstances, if any, presented any riotous conditions in the case at bar?"  we find no difficulty in sustaining the conviction.
The program director was afraid to say anything "because it probably would have precipitated an incident in the lobby of the Union." Students in the vicinity were moving away. The language used was quite sufficient to create an incident or a riotous condition. The defendant and Rollins could have had no intention other than to disturb the peace and tranquility of the marine recruiter and others in the vicinity.
*431 The appellant contends that 
The provisions of K.S.A. 60-409 (a) reads in part:
Although we do not wish to imply that obscenity is a necessary element of disturbance of the peace, it matters little whether judicial knowledge was taken of the nature of the language used or whether the nature of the language used was declared obscene as a matter of law, we have no hesitancy in declaring that the language described, when considered in the light of where it was used, how it was used and those present, was obscene and indecent.
Appellant contends that the institution of the charges amounted to an abuse of criminal administration to the extent of infringing on the exercise of his constitutional rights. He states:
The evidence does not support the contention. There was no evidence that the language described herein was used by others under the facts and circumstances presented here.
A careful examination of the record discloses no trial errors that would justify our disturbing the judgment of the trial court.
The judgment is affirmed.
APPROVED BY THE COURT.