265 Conn. 145 | Conn. | 2003
Lead Opinion
Opinion
The defendant, Dante DeLoreto, appeals from the judgment of conviction, rendered after a trial to the court, on charges of two counts of breach of the peace in the second degree in violation of General Statutes § BSa-lSl.
The record reveals the following relevant facts. The defendant was. involved in two separate incidents involving Wethersfield police officers. The first incident occurred on June 9, 2000. Robert Labonte, a Wethersfield police sergeant who was off duty, was jogging on Fairmount Street in Wethersfield, near the defendant’s residence. Labonte had been jogging this route for the previous nineteen years. At approximately 7:10 a.m., Labonte noticed a car driving slowly beside him. He looked over at the driver of the car and recognized the defendant, who had brought an action against Labonte in federal court.
Labonte continued to jog along Fairmount Street to the intersection of Darwell Drive. At this point, the defendant sped past Labonte and made a left turn onto Darwell Drive in front of Labonte. The defendant stopped his car in the middle of the road and, as Labonte
The second incident occurred on June 15, 2000. At approximately 6:15 a.m., Andrew Power, a Wethersfield police sergeant, entered the Food Bag, a convenience store located on the Silas Deane Highway in Wethersfield, where he intended to purchase a gallon of milk and a newspaper. Approximately five to ten minutes later, the defendant entered the store. He walked behind Power, who was standing at the counter talking with one of the store’s employees. The defendant stepped to Power’s right, and Power paid for his purchases and stepped to the left. It appeared that the defendant was trying to read Power’s name tag, at which point Power stated: “If you’re trying to read my name, I’ll tell you my name.” In response, the defendant stepped back, raised his fist and stated: “You have a problem with me?” Power responded: “You give me the finger eveiy
There were two witnesses to this incident. One witness, Joann Mirles, at first believed that Power and the defendant were just “goofing around,” but when the defendant “started getting very loud . . . [she] realized they were not just . . . having words or goofing around. It was serious.” The second witness to this incident, Linda Syphers, believed that an altercation might occur.
The defendant was charged with a single count of breach of the peace in violation of § 53a-181 (a) (1), (3) and (5), for each incident. On August 31, 2000, the defendant filed a motion to dismiss the case on the grounds that: (1) § 53a-181 is unconstitutionally vague;
On appeal, the defendant claims that the trial court improperly concluded that: (1) his statements constituted fighting words as applied to police officers; and (2) § 53a-181 (a) was neither unconstitutionally vague as applied to the defendant nor unconstitutionally over-broad. We conclude that the statements made by the defendant constituted true threats and, as such, were not protected by the federal and state constitutions. We therefore further conclude that the defendant properly was convicted under § 53a-181 (a) (3), which provides in relevant part that a person is guilty of breach of the peace when that person, “with intent to cause inconvenience, annoyance or alarm, or recklessly creating a risk thereof . . . threatens to commit any crime against another person or such other person’s property . . . .”
I
The defendant first claims that because his convictions for breach of the peace were based on protected speech
We begin by setting forth the relevant standard of review. “This Court’s duty is not limited to the elaboration of constitutional principles; we must also in proper cases review the evidence to make certain that those principles have been constitutionally applied. This is such a case, particularly since the question is one of
Moreover, we note that “[wjhere the trial court reaches a correct decision but on [mistaken] grounds, this court has repeatedly sustained the trial court’s action if proper grounds exist to support it. . . . [W]e . . . may affirm the court’s judgment on a dispositive alternate ground for which there is support in the trial court record.” (Citation omitted; internal quotation marks omitted.) Pequonnock Yacht Club, Inc. v. Bridgeport, 259 Conn. 592, 599, 790 A.2d 1178 (2002).
“The First Amendment, applicable to the States through the Fourteenth Amendment, provides that ‘Congress shall make no law . . . abridging the freedom of speech.’ The hallmark of the protection of free speech is to allow ‘free trade in ideas’—even ideas that the overwhelming majority of people might find distasteful or discomforting. . . . Thus, the First Amendment ‘ordinarily’ denies a State ‘the power to prohibit
“The protections afforded by the First Amendment, however, are not absolute, and we have long recognized that the government may regulate certain categories of expression consistent with the Constitution. . . . The First Amendment permits ‘restrictions upon the content of speech in a few limited areas, which are “of such slight social value as a step to truth that any benefit that may be derived from them is clearly outweighed by the social interest in order and morality.” ’ . . .
“Thus, for example, a State may punish those words ‘which by their very utterance inflict injury or tend to incite an immediate breach of the peace.’ . . . Furthermore, ‘the constitutional guarantees of free speech and free press do not permit a State to forbid or proscribe advocacy of the use of force or of law violation except where such advocacy is directed to inciting or producing imminent lawless action and is likely to incite or produce such action.’ . . . And the First Amendment also permits a State to ban a ‘true threat.’ . . .
“ ‘True threats’ encompass those statements where the speaker means to communicate a serious expression of an intent to commit an act of unlawful violence to a particular individual or group of individuals. . . . The speaker need not actually intend to carry out the threat. Rather, a prohibition on true threats ‘protects] individuals from the fear of violence’ and ‘from the disruption that fear engenders,’ in addition to protecting people ‘from the possibility that the threatened violence will occur.’ ” (Citations omitted.) Virginia v. Black, 538 U.S. 343, 359-60, 123 S. Ct. 1536, 155 L. Ed. 2d 535 (2003).
That court further stated that, “[a]s speech strays further from the values of persuasion, dialogue and free exchange of ideas the first amendment was designed to protect, and moves toward threats made with specific intent to perform illegal acts, the state has greater latitude to enact statutes that effectively neutralize verbal expression.” Schackelford v. Shirley, supra, 948 F.2d 938. Finally, that court concluded that, “as expansive as the first amendment’s conception of social and political discourse may be, threats made with specific intent to injure and focused on a particular individual easily fall into that categoiy of speech deserving no first amendment protection.” Id. Thus, we must distinguish between trae threats, which, because of their lack of communicative value, are not protected by the first amendment, and those statements that seek to communicate a belief or idea, such as political hyperbole or a mere joke, which are protected. See Watts v. United States, 394 U.S. 705, 708, 89 S. Ct. 1399, 22 L. Ed. 2d 664 (1969) (statement that speaker would shoot president of
In the context of a threat of physical violence, “[w]hether a particular statement may properly be considered to be a threat is governed by an objective standard—whether a reasonable person would foresee that the statement would be interpreted by those to whom the maker communicates the statement as a serious expression of intent to harm or assault. . . . Although a threat must be distinguished from what is constitutionally protected speech . . . this is not a case involving statements with a political message. A true threat, where a reasonable person would foresee that the listener will believe he will be subjected to physical violence upon his person, is unprotected by the first amendment.” (Citations omitted; internal quotation marks omitted.) United States v. Orozco-Santillan, 903 F.2d 1262, 1265-66 (9th Cir. 1990) (applying 18 U.S.C. § 115, which prohibits threatening to assault federal law enforcement officer). Moreover, “[a]lleged threats should be considered in light of their entire factual context, including the surrounding events and reaction of the listeners.” Id., 1265.
We now turn, therefore, to an examination of the incidents involving Labonte and Power to determine “whether a reasonable person would foresee that the statement would be interpreted by those to whom the maker communicates the statement as a serious expression of intent to harm or assault.” Id. The state claims that the statements made by the defendant to Labonte— namely, “I’ll kick your ass”; “I’m going to kick your ass, punk”; “Come on, right now”; and “I’m going to kick your ass”—constituted true threats. There is no question that the statements themselves constitute, unequivocally, threats to commit an assault. The question then becomes whether a reasonable person would have believed that the threats, taken in context, were mere
Considering these statements “in light of their entire factual context, including the surrounding events and reaction of the listeners”; id., 1266; we conclude that the defendant’s statements constituted a true threat. The defendant had a history of confrontational behavior with Labonte, having “given him the finger” on several occasions in the past. Moreover, Labonte was off duty, unarmed, and on foot, while the defendant was in his car when he made the first two statements. The defendant was driving erratically, speeding up, slowing down and cutting in front of Labonte. Additionally, the defendant, in connection with one of the statements, suddenly swung open his car door, jumped out of the car, and ran toward Labonte while pumping his fists, at which point Labonte prepared to defend himself. Finally, the witness to this incident testified that he believed a fight was going to take place. Under these circumstances, a reasonable person would foresee that the statements would be interpreted by Labonte as a serious expression of the defendant’s intent to harm or assault Labonte.
The defendant urges us to conclude, however, that, in light of the fact that the defendant had brought an action against Labonte, the statements evidenced his belief that he would prevail in court. We are not persuaded. The unequivocally threatening nature of the statements, within the context in which they were spoken, leads us to conclude that the statements were not mere hyperbole or jokes; rather, the statements were “a serious expression of intent to harm”; id., 1265; and, thus, unprotected speech.
We now turn to an examination of the incident involving Power. The state claims that the defendant’s statements to Power—namely, “You got a problem with
We note that Power, unlike Labonte, was on duty and armed. These facts, however, do not require a different conclusion. The fact that Power was better able to defend himself than Labonte does not lessen the impact of the threat; it just made it more difficult for the defendant to carry out his threat immediately. Imminence, however, is not a requirement under the true threats doctrine. Virginia v. Black, supra, 538 U.S. 359-60 (“ ‘True threats’ encompass those statements where the speaker means to communicate a serious expression of an intent to commit an act of unlawful violence to a particular individual or group of individuals. . . . The speaker need not actually intend to carry out the threat.
The defendant also claims that the fact that Power got out of his cruiser to retrieve his newspaper indicates that the statements made by the defendant could not reasonably be perceived as a true threat. We disagree. This assumes an imminence requirement that, as we have stated, does not exist under the true threats doctrine. The fact that Power perhaps believed that the defendant would not act if he stepped out of his cruiser to retrieve his paper is not relevant. The standard is whether a reasonable person would foresee that Power would interpret the statements as a serious expression of the defendant’s intent to harm or assault Power. The fact that Power retrieved his newspaper does not lessen the impact of the statements made as the defendant raised his fist and then pursued Power into the parking lot.
Finally, the defendant claims that when an alleged threat is made to a police officer, a narrower class of statements should qualify as true threats than would qualify when spoken to an ordinary citizen. The defendant analogizes the true threats doctrine to the fighting words doctrine, under which some courts have concluded that, where a police officer is the only person “upon whose sensibilities the inflammatory language could have played, a conviction can be supported only for ‘[ejxtremely offensive behavior supporting an inference that the actor wished to provoke the policeman to violence.’ ” State v. Nelson, 38 Conn. Sup. 349, 354, 448 A.2d 214 (1982); see also Lewis v. New Orleans, 415 U.S. 130, 135, 94 S. Ct. 970, 39 L. Ed. 2d 214 (1974) (Powell, J., concurring). We are not persuaded.
First, the defendant provides no authority for his assertion that a narrower class of statements will qualify as true threats when spoken to a police officer. Our research indicates that, to the contrary, in those federal cases that have applied the true threats doctrine to
The rationale that underlies the rule that a narrower class of speech qualifies as fighting words when spoken
Moreover, “a prohibition on true threats protects] individuals from the fear of violence and from the disruption that fear engenders . . . .” (Internal quotation marks omitted.) Virginia v. Black, supra, 538 U.S. 360. Fear, in this context, includes not only fear of physical harm, but also fear that the threat will be carried out. The defendant provides us with no reason, other than an officer’s training, for distinguishing between police officers and regular citizens in determining whether a statement constitutes a true threat. A police officer is not trained to be fearless in the face
Finally, a narrower class of statements constitutes fighting words when spoken to police officers, rather than to ordinary citizens, because of the communicative value of such statements. “The [constitution does not allow such speech to be made a crime. The freedom of individuals verbally to oppose or challenge police action without thereby risking arrest is one of the principal char acteristics by which we distinguish a free nation from a police state.” Houston v. Hill, 482 U.S. 451, 462-63, 107 S. Ct. 2502, 96 L. Ed. 2d 398 (1987) (striking down statute that prohibited speech that “ ‘in any manner’ ” interrupts police officer as overbroad). True threats, however, do not serve the same purpose as fighting words. By their very nature, true threats have no communicative value but, rather, are “words [used] as projectiles where no exchange of views is involved.” (Internal quotation marks omitted.) Schackelford v. Shirley supra, 948 F.2d 938, quoting L. Tribe, supra, § 12-8, p. 837. Accordingly, we conclude that the first amendment does not demand that we narrow the class of statements that constitute true threats when spoken to a police officer.
The defendant next claims that the breach of the peace statute, § 53a-181 (a) (3),
A
We begin with the defendant’s claim that § 53a-181 (a) (3) is vague as applied to him in violation of the first and fourteenth amendments to the Unites States constitution.
“Second, if arbitrary and discriminatory enforcement is to be prevented, laws must provide explicit standards for those who apply them. A vague law impermissibly delegates basic policy matters to policemen, judges, and juries for resolution on an ad hoc and subjective basis, with the attendant dangers of arbitrary and dis
“Third, but related, where a vague statute abut[s] upon sensitive areas of basic First Amendment freedoms, it operates to inhibit the exercise of [those] freedoms. Uncertain meanings inevitably lead citizens to steer far wider of the unlawful zone . . . than if the boundaries of the forbidden areas were clearly marked. . . .
“These standards should not ... be mechanically applied. The degree of vagueness that the Constitution tolerates—as well as the relative importance of fair notice and fair enforcement—depends in part on the nature of the enactment. . . . The Court has . . . expressed greater tolerance of enactments with civil rather than criminal penalties because the consequences of imprecision are qualitatively less severe. And the Court has recognized that a scienter requirement may mitigate a law’s vagueness, especially with respect to the adequacy of notice to the [defendant] that his conduct is proscribed. . . . [P]erhaps the most important factor affecting the clarity that the Constitution demands of a law is whether it threatens to inhibit the exercise of constitutionally protected rights. If, for example, the law interferes with the right of free speech or of association, a more stringent vagueness test should apply.” (Citations omitted; internal quotation marks omitted.) State v. Indrisano, 228 Conn. 795, 802-804, 640 A.2d 986 (1994).
“Our vagueness inquiry . . . extends only to those portions of the statute that were applied to the defendant in this case.” Id., 804. Thus, we confine our vagueness analysis to the conduct specified in § 53a-181 (a) (3). See id., 804-805.
The defendant does not point to any language in the statute that he claims renders it unconstitutionally vague. Rather, he merely states that the statute is uncon
“[Although the doctrines of overbreadth and vagueness are closely related . . . they are distinct. ... A statute may be overbroad without being vague. For example, a statute making it a crime to use the words kill and President in the same sentence is not vague, but is clearly overbroad. By contrast, a vague statute may or may not be overbroad; the vice of vagueness is that someone contemplating a course of conduct, expressive or otherwise, may be unable to tell what is forbidden.” (Citations omitted; internal quotation marks omitted.) Ramos v. Vernon, 254 Conn. 799, 813 n.20, 761 A.2d 705 (2000). The terms of § 53a-181 (a) prohibit a speaker, “with intent to cause inconvenience, annoyance or alarm, or recklessly creating a risk thereof,” from “(3) threaten[ing] to commit any crime against another person or such other person’s property . . . .” The essence of the defendant’s vagueness claim is that he cannot know how the statute applies to speech directed at a police officer. On its face, however, the statute applies to any speech that meets the requirements of the statute. Although we recognize that, in the absence of a judicial gloss, § 53a-181 (a) (3) could be construed as overbroad; see part II B of this opinion; the terms of the statute are not so vague that the statute does not “give the person of ordinary intelligence a
B
We next consider the defendant’s claim that the trial court improperly concluded that § 53a-181 (a) (3) is not unconstitutionally overbroad. “A clear and precise enactment may ... be overbroad if in its reach it prohibits constitutionally protected conduct. ... A single impermissible application of a statute, however, will not be sufficient to invalidate the statute on its face; rather, to be invalid, a statute must reach a substantial amount of constitutionally protected conduct. ... A [defendant] may challenge a statute as facially over-broad under the first amendment, even if the [defendant’s] conduct falls within the permissible scope of the statute, to vindicate two substantial interests: (1) eliminating the statute’s chilling effect on others who fear to engage in the expression that the statute unconstitutionally prohibits; and (2) acknowledging that eveiy [person] has the right not to be prosecuted for expression under a constitutionally overbroad statute. . . . Thus, the [defendant] has standing to raise a facial overbreadth challenge to the [statute] and may prevail on that claim if he can establish that the [statute] reaches a substantial amount of constitutionally protected conduct even though he personally did not engage in such conduct.” (Citations omitted; internal quotation marks omitted.) Leydon v. Greenwich, 257 Conn. 318, 335, 777 A.2d 552 (2001).
The defendant’s claim that § 53a-181 (a) is unconstitutionally overbroad is based on the same ground as his vagueness challenge, namely, that “[t]he judicial gloss which confines the expansive provisions of our breach
Thus far, in construing § 53a-181 (a) (3), we have confined our discussion to the true threats doctrine. We do not believe, however, that this subsection criminalizes only true threats. Threatening statements that do not rise to the level of a true threat may nonetheless constitute fighting words that could be criminalized under this subsection consistent with the first amendment. Accordingly, this subsection potentially could encompass that class of statements that, while they would qualify as fighting words for the ordinary citizen, are not offensive enough to provoke a police officer to violence and are, thus, protected speech. We have concluded that the defendant’s speech did not fall within this category of speech but was, rather, a true threat. We have noted, however, that, “in a first amendment context, a defendant may challenge the validity of a statute’s application to marginal situations even though his own conduct may clearly fall within the
The judgment is affirmed.
In this opinion BORDEN, NORCOTT and VERTE-FEUILLE, Js., concurred.
General Statutes § 53a-181 provides: “(a) A person is guilty of breach of the peace in the second degree when, with intent to cause inconvenience, annoyance or alarm, or recklessly creating a risk thereof, such person: (1) Engages in fighting or in violent, tumultuous or threatening behavior in a public place; or (2) assaults or strikes another; or (3) threatens to commit any crime against another person or such other person’s property; or (4) publicly exhibits, distributes, posts up or advertises any offensive, indecent or abusive matter concerning any person; or (5) in a public place, uses abusive or obscene language or makes an obscene gesture; or (6) creates a public and hazardous or physically offensive condition by any act which such person is not licensed or privileged to do. For purposes of this section, ‘public place’ means any area that is used or held out for use by the public whether owned or operated by public or private interests.
“(b) Breach of the peace in the second degree is a class B misdemeanor.”
The defendant had brought an action against Labonte and four other officers in federal court in connection with an incident that occurred at the defendant’s house in 1997. That action is still pending. DeLoreto v. Erdman, United States District Court, Docket No. 3-.00CV210 (JCH) (D. Conn.).
The record before this court does not indicate how this incident ultimately ended. It is clear, however, that the defendant did not physically assault Labonte.
The defendant did not limit his claim to any specific subsection of the statute.
The trial court agreed to hear and decide both the motion to dismiss and the motion for judgment of acquittal at the same time.
Because we conclude that the defendant properly was convicted for both counts of breach of the peace in violation of § 53a-181 (a) (3), we need not reach the issue of whether the defendant violated § 53a-181 (a) (1) and (5).
Article first, §4, of the constitution of Connecticut provides: “Every citizen may freely speak, write and publish Ms sentiments on all subjects, bemg responsible for the abuse of that liberty.”
Article first, § 5, of the constitution of Connecticut provides m relevant part: “No law shall ever be passed to curtail or restrain the liberty of speech ....’’
Article first, § 14, of the constitution of Connecticut provides: “The citizens have a right, m a peaceable manner, to assemble for their common good, and to apply to those mvested with the powers of government, for redress of grievances, or other proper purposes, by petition, address or remonstrance.”
The defendant’s state constitutional claim amounts to an assertion that the free speech protection provided by the constitution of Connecticut, wMch bestows greater expressive rights on the public than does the federal constitution, is expansive enough to encompass “fighting words.” Because we conclude that the defendant’s statements were true threats, we need not address tMs claim.
Pursuant to Practice Book § 63-4 (a) (1), the state filed a prelimmary statement of the issues setting forth alternate grounds for affirmance. The state did not, however, mclude its claim that the defendant’s statements constituted true threats m its prelimmary statement of the issues. Nevertheless, we will address the issue because the defendant had adequate opportuMty to respond to the state’s claim m a reply brief, wMch the defendant waived fifing. Moreover, the defendant addressed tMs claim on its merits at oral argument before tins court and did not present us with any evidence that he was prejudiced. See Russell v. Mystic Seaport Museum, Inc., 252 Conn. 596, 599-600 n.3, 748 A.2d 278 (2000).
Our research also reveals, however, that at least one state appears to confine the true threats doctrine to a narrower class of statements when the alleged threat is directed at a police officer. In State v. Valdivia, 95 Haw. 465, 474, 24 P.3d 661 (2001), the defendant stated to a police officer: “I’m gonna lull you and your police uniform . . . .” (Internal quotation marks omitted.) The defendant was convicted under the state’s terroristic threats statute, which required the prosecution to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant threatened, by words, to cause bodily injury to another in reckless disregard of the risk of terrorizing that person. Id. The defendant appealed claiming that the trial court improperly had refused to instruct the jury that “[wjhere a threat is directed at a police officer, [the jury] may consider that police officers are trained to a professional standard of behavior that ordinary citizens might not be expected to equal.” (Internal quotation marks omitted.) Id., 479. In making his claim, the defendant relied on In the Interest of Doe, 76 Haw. 85, 869 P.2d 1304 (1994), in which the Supreme Court of Hawaii applied the fighting words doctrine to a police officer. State v. Valdivia, supra, 479.
The Supreme Court of Hawaii acknowledged that the fighting words doctrine was not directly on point. That court concluded, however, that “the gist of Doe nevertheless applies in the context of a prosecution for terroristic threatening. As such, the jury in the present matter should have been instructed that it could consider relevant attributes of both the defendant and the subject of the allegedly threatening utterance in determining whether the subject’s fear of bodily injury, as allegedly induced by the defendant’s threatening utterance, was objectively reasonable under the circumstances in which the threat was uttered.” Id. That court, thus, appears to have narrowed the class of statements considered true threats when the listener is a police officer, apparently relying on the rationale underlying
The defendant’s claim encompasses § 53a-181 (a) (1), (3) and (5). Because we have concluded that the defendant properly was convicted under § 53a-181 (a) (3), we limit our constitutional inquiry to that subsection of the statute.
We note that the defendant has limited his claim to an “as applied” challenge and does not raise a claim of facial vagueness.
Concurrence in Part
concurring and dissenting. I agree with part II of the majority opinion in its rejection of the challenge by the defendant, Dante DeLoreto, to General Statutes § 53a-181 (a) (3)
With respect to the defendant’s incident with Labonte, I would not turn to the true threats doctrine, which this court previously has not adopted, because it is unnecessary to do so. Instead, I would affirm the judgment of the trial court on the breach of the peace count involving Labonte on the narrower ground that the defendant violated subsection (a) (1) of § 53a-181, because that provision prohibits “threatening behavior in a public place . . . .” See footnote 1 of this concurring and dissenting opinion. Applying § 53a-181 (a) (1), we can resolve the issue based solely on the defendant’s threatening physical conduct, i.e., his erratic driving near Labonte, who was jogging at the time of the incident, his attempt to cut off Labonte with his car, his swinging of his car door in the direction of Labonte, and his subsequent advance toward Labonte with his fists raised, without resort to the defendant’s speech.
It is well settled “that nonverbal expressive activity can be banned because of the action it entails, but not
On the other hand, I do agree with the majority that the true threats doctrine properly may be applied to the defendant’s incident with Power. Unlike the incident with Labonte, the defendant’s conduct toward Power consisted principally of verbal, rather than physical, conduct. Nonetheless, I do not agree with the majority’s application of the true threats doctrine to the present case. In my view, because application of the doctrine requires a fact-intensive inquiry, we must remand the case for further proceedings, as the trial court, and not this court, is the fact finder.
Whether a reasonable person would believe that the defendant’s threats were mere hyperbole or jokes “in light of their entire factual context, including the surrounding events and reaction of the listeners”; United States v. Orozco-Santillan, supra, 903 F.2d 1265; is not a question that this court can decide as a matter of law. The issue in this appeal is not whether there was sufficient evidence in the record to support a determination that the defendant’s statements constituted a true threat. Compare State v. Smith, 262 Conn. 453, 473, 815 A.2d 1216 (2003) (reviewing facts in sufficiency of evidence claim). Because that question never was presented in this case, there has been no factual determination in this regard. Therefore, we are left with a test set forth by the majority that depends upon factual determinations that never have been made.
Therefore, I disagree with the majority’s conclusion that it is appropriate for this court to examine the defendant’s conduct in the incident with Power and to determine what a reasonable person would believe in this case. Rather, I would remand the case to the trial court for a new trial, at which time the issue of whether the defendant’s speech to Power constituted true threats could be litigated against the entire factual background at issue.
General Statutes § 53a-181 (a) provides in relevant part: “A person is guilty of breach of the peace in the second degree when, with intent to cause inconvenience, annoyance or alarm, or recklessly creating a risk thereof, such person: (1) Engages in fighting or in violent, tumultuous or threatening behavior in a public place ... or (3) threatens to commit any crime against another person or such other person’s property . . .
The first amendment to the United States constitution, made applicable to the slates through the fourteenth amendment, provides in relevant part: “Congress shall make no law . . . abridging the freedom of speech . . .
Article first, § 4, of the Connecticut constitution provides: “Every citizen may freely speak, write and publish his sentiments on all subjects, being responsible for the abuse of that liberty.”
Article first, § 5, of the Connecticut constitution provides: “No law shall
Article first, § 14, of the Connecticut constitution provides: “The citizens have a right, in a peaceable manner, to assemble for their common good, and to apply to those invested with the powers of government, for redress of grievances, or other proper purposes, by petition, address or remonstrance.”
note that, in determining whether the defendant’s statements were true threats, the majority cites as a relevant fact the defendant’s “history of confrontational behavior”—relying on his “giving the finger” to Power, as well as the defendant’s lawsuit pending against various Wethersfield police officers. This “confrontational behavior,” however, arguably is constitutionally protected speech. I would caution the fact finder, therefore, that, although the entire factual context is to be considered; United States v. Orozco-Santillan, supra, 903 F.2d 1265; prior constitutionally protected con