Court Opinion

ID: 9516853
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-06 23:54:34.89531+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:39:37.951846
License: Public Domain

OPINION
BARTEAU, Judge.
A jury convicted Stephan Hooks of disorderly conduct. Hooks argues on appeal that his conviction must be reversed because it constitutes unconstitutional punishment of protected speech.
FACTS
As a police officer approached several men standing around Hooks's car, the men dispersed and Hooks backed his car down the street, around a corner, and stopped in front of his mother's house. Hooks exited the vehicle and walked toward the house. The police officer asked Hooks to stop to speak with him, but Hooks shouted a refusal and went into the house.
The police officer ran a check on Hooks's vehicle and discovered that it had not been registered with the Bureau of Motor Vehicles. The officer prepared to have the vehicle towed. Hooks and his brother then came out of the house and began to seream obscenities at the police officer. The officer asked the men to quiet down, as did other officers who arrived at the seene. However, Hooks continued to shout obscenities at the officer, so loudly that he could be heard across the street.
DISCUSSION
In recent decisions, Indiana courts have considered the extent to which our legislature may regulate speech through the disorderly conduct statute. See Price v. State (1993), Ind., 622 N.E.2d 954; Radford v. State (1994), Ind.App., 640 N.E.2d 90, trans. denied (opinion on rehearing); Whittington v. State (1994), Ind.App., 634 N.E.2d 526; Stites v. State (1994), Ind.App., 627 N.E.2d 1343. What clearly may be gleaned from these decisions in the context of those cases and the case at bar is that speech is protected under the constitution where it is aimed at protesting the actions of police, rather than hindering or obstructing police duties or investigations. Compare Price, 622 N.E.2d at 964 and Whittington, 634 N.E.2d at 527, with Radford, 640 N.E.2d at 94, and Stites, 627 N.E.2d at 1344. Nonetheless, even assuming that Hook's speech was protected under the Constitution, his conviction must be affirmed under the evidence presented.
The prohibition against unreasonable noise in Indiana's disorderly conduct statute, Ind.Code 85-45-1-8(2), is aimed at the intrusiveness and loudness of expression, not whether the content of the language is obscene or provocative. Price, 622 N.E.2d at 960 n. 6. To sustain a conviction, the State must show that the complained-of speech infringed upon the right to peace and tranquility enjoyed by others. Whittington, 634 N.E.2d at 527. In Whittington, we reversed the defendant's conviction for shouting at police who were summoned to his apartment because the State failed to demonstrate that Whittington's sereams were overheard by his neighbors. Id. at 527. To this end, the State presented evidence that Hooks's screaming was heard by neighbors across the street from his mother's house. The jury could reasonably conclude from this evidence that Hooks's speech infringed upon the peace and tranquility of others.
Citing our Supreme Court's decision in Price, 622 N.E.2d at 964, the dissent concludes that Hooks's shouting could have been no more than a "fleeting annoyance." The law is clear that we may not reweigh evidence on appeal. Spangler v. State (1993), Ind., 607 N.E.2d 720, 724; King v. State (1990), Ind., 560 N.E.2d 491, 492, reh'g denied. If there is evidence of probative value from which the trier of fact could reasonably find guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, the conviction must be affirmed. McDonald v. State (1987), Ind., 511 N.E.2d 1066, 1068. Here, the State produced evidence that Hooks's screams were overheard by his neighbors. From that evidence, a jury could reasonably conclude that his shouting invaded the peace and tranquility enjoyed by others, and was not merely a "fleeting annoy*1078ance." It is the role of the jury, and not this Court, to make such a factual determination from the evidence presented.
AFFIRMED.
NAJAM, J., concurs.
ROBERTSON, J., dissents with opinion.