Carlson v. City of Tallahassee

240 So. 2d 866, 1970 Fla. App. LEXIS 5687
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedNovember 12, 1970
DocketNo. N-156
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 240 So. 2d 866 (Carlson v. City of Tallahassee) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court of Appeal of Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Carlson v. City of Tallahassee, 240 So. 2d 866, 1970 Fla. App. LEXIS 5687 (Fla. Ct. App. 1970).

Opinion

SPECTOR, Judge.

By petition for writ of certiorari, Roy Duane Carlson, Jr., seeks review of a judgment of the Circuit Court for Leon County, Florida, affirming his conviction in the Municipal Court of the City of Tallahassee on charges of “disturbing the peace” in violation of a city ordinance. No attack was made below or here on the validity of the ordinance.

The judgment of the circuit court recites that the following two questions were presented in petitioner’s appeal to that court from the municipal conviction, viz: “(1) the sufficiency of the evidence to justify a conviction when the facts are viewed in the light of the constitutional rights of the defendant under the first amendment of the Federal Constitution, and (2) the alleged excessiveness of the punishment imposed.” The latter ground relating to the punishment, although decided adversely to petitioner below, is not raised in this certio-rari proceeding.

The incident which resulted in the charges against petitioner occurred at mu[867]*867nicipally-owned Capital Stadium in Tallahassee. The stadium had been rented to the supporters of a presidental candidate, George Wallace, for the purpose of holding a political rally in support of his candidacy. The same stadium is rented from time to time to various private organizations, including political organizations.

On the day in question, city police were assigned to duty at the stadium on the combined orders of the Chief of Police and a' United States Secret Service man assigned to Mr. Wallace by the federal government for security purposes. The police were instructed to bar persons carrying signs which would tend to “create trouble” from entrance into the stadium. An area outside and adjacent to the stadium was made available for the use of persons who wished to rally or demonstrate in opposition to Mr. Wallace’s presidential aspirations. The record indicates that the said area was in fact used by numerous persons to express their lack of support for Wallace. Mr. Carlson, petitioner herein, apparently was not willing to voice his opinions in the adjacent area set aside for that purpose. Instead, petitioner entered the gate to the stadium proper, and, once inside, unrolled a sign he had been carrying which bore the legend, “Racism is Destroying My Country”. Petitioner was ushered out twice by the police upon being advised that he could stay but that the sign could not be displayed by him. Ultimately he attempted to force his way inside past the gate guards with the sign. Although he was not violent, he apparently did exert some force. At this time, petitioner was arrested and charged with disturbing the peace.

Petitioner contended below, as he does here, that he had a constitutional right to display his sign of protest and to enter the stadium for that purpose. The circuit court rejected this argument and we agree. In its judgment, the circuit court stated in part:

“The stadium had been leased, although temporarily, to persons desiring to use it for a particular purpose. The appellant is not shown to have had permission from those who had leased the stadium to display his sign in this stadium. On the contrary, the evidence indicates that the display of the sign in the stadium would definitely be contrary to the purposes for which the stadium was rented.”

For reversal, petitioner relies on the proposition that the First Amendment of the United States Constitution assures him the right to carry a poster indicating his political views anywhere he wishes — even if such views may tend to antagonize the majority of persons around him. There is, of course, much to this contention. But there are some factors in his contention that render the thesis vulnerable. While the decisions properly construe first amendment speech rights in the broadest sense, we do not understand it to be the holding of any authoritative tribunal that a person may speak his mind anywhere or under any conditions. This contention was forcefully rejected by the United States Supreme Court in Adderley v. Florida, 385 U.S. 39, 87 S.Ct. 242, 17 L.Ed.2d 149, in which the court held that the belief that people who wish to propagandize protests or views have a constitutional right to do so whenever, however, and wherever they please is fallacious. That concept of constitutional law was vigorously and forthrightly rejected in two of the cases relied on by the appellants in Adderley, supra. The same cases, Cox v. Louisiana, 379 U.S. 536, 85 S.Ct. 453, 13 L.Ed.2d 471, and Cox v. Louisiana, 379 U.S. 559, 85 S.Ct. 476, 13 L.Ed.2d 487, are relied on by petitioners here.

The incident giving rise to the charges against the petitioner herein resulted from petitioner’s effort to interfere with a political rally or meeting organized to promote the candidacy for public office of a citizen of this country. To this end the candidate’s supporters rented a facility from the City of Tallahassee and, having thus had the facility set aside for their úse, they were entitled to use it free from dis[868]*868ruption by those who held views of their own. It matters not whether the views of a person who intrudes and disrupts a political meeting in a facility which has been lawfully set aside for use by a group of political partisans are commendable; nor does it matter that the uninvited views of the intruder support or oppose the candidacy of the person in question. The overriding consideration is the fact that Mr. Wallace is entitled to freedom of speech under the First Amendment every bit as much as the petitioner is. Mr. Wallace reserved the stadium so as to exercise that right. The petitioner did not. Instead, the latter sought to interfere with the orderly processes whereunder the stadium was allocated to all and sundry for their respective purposes. Nowhere in the record before us is there any indication that petitioner was refused the itse of the stadium for his purposes at some other time which would not interfere with another’s right to the same freedom of speech for which petitioner clamors so loudly.

Petitioner’s contention that he can speak while another citizen already has the floor can only serve to diminish the right of both to the unfettered exercise of constitutional freedoms.

The notion that freedom of speech is absolute and not subject to reasonable regulation by the state has often been rejected. Even laymen are well familiar with Mr. Justice Holmes’ admonition that “The most stringent protection of free speech would not protect a man falsely shouting fire in a theatre and causing panic”. Schenck v. United States, 249 U.S. 47, 52, 39 S.Ct. 247, 249, 63 L.Ed. 470, 473. Only recently, the highest court in the land reiterated an earlier decision, Fox v. Washington, 236 U.S. 273, 35 S.Ct. 383, 59 L.Ed. 573, holding that the state may punish a person for encouraging the commission of a crime. Cox v. Louisiana, supra. In the Fox case, the court had before it an assault on a State of Washington statute on the grounds that the statute violated the defendant’s first amendment free speech rights. The said statute was as follows:

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Jones v. State of Florida
District Court of Appeal of Florida, 2025
Dempsey v. People
117 P.3d 800 (Supreme Court of Colorado, 2005)
State v. Hardin
498 N.W.2d 677 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 1993)
District of Columbia v. Gueory
376 A.2d 834 (District of Columbia Court of Appeals, 1977)
Carlson v. City of Tallahassee
244 So. 2d 431 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1971)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
240 So. 2d 866, 1970 Fla. App. LEXIS 5687, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/carlson-v-city-of-tallahassee-fladistctapp-1970.