Court Opinion

ID: 9744636
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 22:10:58.838503+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:24:50.643389
License: Public Domain

HOFFMAN, Judge,
dissenting.
I respectfully dissent. While I agree that the statutory prohibition against unreasonable noise is content-neutral, our supreme court in Price v. State (1993), Ind., 622 N.E.2d 954, 960, acknowledged that "abating excessive noise is an objective our legislature may legitimately pursue." In Price the court concluded that the protected speech *528contemplated in Ind. Const. art. I, § 9, does not protect expression of one person which causes harm to another in a manner consistent with a common-law tort. Id. at 964. The court went on to state:
"To attract sanction under the statute, expression must be unreasonably noisy under the cireumstances or, when political speech is involved, amount to behavior constituting a private nuisance under traditional common law standards....
. The disorderly conduct statute provides fair notice.... We also note that Ind.Code Ann. § 85-45-1-8(2) is violated only after a person continues to make unreasonable noise 'after being asked to stop. This warning requirement provides special protection to persons unaware that their noise level has become unreasonable."
Id. at 967.
Although the court in Price found that the defendant's expression, which occurred outdoors after a large group had already assembled, was not punishable, the court noted that an individual's comfortable enjoyment of his privacy may be a sufficient intrusion to warrant imposition of criminal Hability. Id. at 964. Also, the court noted that protection may be extended to situations "in which individuals cannot escape bombardment of their sensibilities which substantially threatens their privacy interests," such as in the "tranquility and privacy of the home." Id. at 966.
In the present case, when the police officer arrived at the apartment it was in complete disarray. He discovered Rhonda, who was pregnant, seated on the edge of a bed in the rear bedroom holding her abdomen. She was complaining of pain. Her face was red and her eyes were bloodshot and swollen. Eric smelled heavily of alcohol, his speech was slurred, and he swayed. Eric admitted that he and James had argued and then became physical. Eric contended that Rhonda was accidentally injured during the struggle.
The officer summoned an ambulance for Rhonda. He determined that Rhonda was still quite upset. Rhonda told the officer that Eric had hit her in the abdomen.
While the officer was speaking to Rhonda in the rear bedroom, James and Eric began arguing in the living room. The officer went to the living room in an effort to calm them and separated the two men. After the officer told James to join Rhonda in the bedroom, Eric continued to yell the epithets noted in the majority opinion. The officer asked Eric to quiet down because James could hear and everyone was becoming upset again.
Eric still refused to calm down. He continued to speak in a loud and angry manner. Then the officer placed Eric under arrest.
Here, James and Rhonda were subjected to Erics tirade under cireumstances which did not allow them to escape. Further, the bombardment occurred within the privacy of the home. The officer gave Eric fair notice to refrain from unreasonable noise. After Eric refused, he subjected himself to criminal sanction. Under the facts of the case, I would vote to affirm the conviction for disorderly conduct.