State v. Cropley

544 A.2d 302, 1988 Me. LEXIS 232
CourtSupreme Judicial Court of Maine
DecidedJuly 13, 1988
StatusPublished
Cited by24 cases

This text of 544 A.2d 302 (State v. Cropley) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Judicial Court of Maine primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Cropley, 544 A.2d 302, 1988 Me. LEXIS 232 (Me. 1988).

Opinion

WATHEN, Justice.

Defendant Shelly Cropley appeals from an order of the Superior Court (Aroostook County) denying her appeal from two convictions for harassment (17-A M.R.S.A. § 506-A (1983)) rendered in the District Court (Presque Isle). On appeal, defendant challenges the constitutionality of the harassment statute. We find no constitutional infirmity in the statute but we vacate the second conviction on the basis of insufficient evidence.

I.

The relevant facts may be summarized as follows: On June 19,1986, a state trooper informed defendant of a complaint against her for harassment, made by Ken-na Prue, the present wife of defendant’s former boyfriend. He warned her to have no further contact with Mrs. Prue, either verbal or otherwise, that was intended to harass or annoy. Subsequently, defendant was charged with harassment stemming from an incident occurring on or about July 4,1986, when she made an obscene gesture and yelled vulgarities at Mrs. Prue. The District Court found defendant guilty. At the request of the State, the District Court continued sentencing for ninety days, and warned the parties that, in the meantime, they were not to communicate with each other and that if there were any violations by defendant, he would impose a jail sentence.

Shortly after the first trial, defendant began appearing regularly at Mrs. Prue’s place of employment, a truck stop. Mrs. Prue testified that on October 22,1986, Ms. Cropley entered the truck stop and sat at a table next to the table at which Mrs. Prue and her husband were sitting. Ms. Cropley *304 then stared at Mr. and Mrs. Prue, made weird and vulgar faces, talked about the Prues, and laughed. As a result of this incident, Ms. Cropley was subsequently charged with her second offense of harassment and again was found guilty. On the same day, the District Court sentenced defendant to two concurrent twenty-day sentences in the county jail for the two convictions of harassment. Defendant first appealed both convictions to the Superior Court and, when the appeals were denied, she then appealed to this Court.

II.

We have never before considered whether 17-A M.R.S.A. § 506-A is unconstitutional. Section 506-A in pertinent part provides: “A person is guilty of harassment if, without reasonable cause, he engages in any course of conduct with the intent to harass, torment or threaten another person, after having been forbidden to do so by any sheriff, deputy sheriff, constable, police officer or notary public.”

Preliminarily, we note that defendant has only preserved her attack on the constitutionality of the statute on one ground— namely, whether the statute violates the freedom of speech guaranteed by the first amendment of the United States Constitution. She has not properly preserved in the trial court her challenge that the statute violates her freedom of speech in violation of the Maine Constitution. See State v. Thornton, 485 A.2d 952 (Me.1984). Further, she has not preserved her arguments that the statute is unconstitutionally void for vagueness, that it is an unlawful delegation of legislative powers, or that it is otherwise a violation of her due process rights. We review the unpreserved challenges only for obvious error affecting substantial rights. State v. Crocker, 435 A.2d 58, 62 (Me.1981).

When reviewing a statute for its constitutionality, we begin with the basic principle of statutory construction that “this Court is bound to avoid an unconstitutional interpretation of a statute if a reasonable interpretation of the statute would satisfy constitutional requirements.” Bossie v. State, 488 A.2d 477, 479 (Me.1985). Because all acts of the Legislature are presumed to be constitutional, it is the person challenging the statute who has the burden to prove that it is invalid. State v. Sylvain, 344 A.2d 407, 408 (Me.1975).

Defendant argues that the harassment statute is facially unconstitutional because it is so overbroad that it includes speech protected by the first amendment of the United States Constitution and by article I, section 4 of the Maine Constitution. “A statute is overbroad ‘if in its reach it prohibits constitutionally protected conduct.’ ” State v. Events Intern., Inc., 528 A.2d 458, 461 (Me.1987). Generally, the challenging party must demonstrate that “the statute sweeps within its ambit a substantial amount of protected speech.” Id. “[A] statute should not be found unconstitutional on its face ‘where, despite some possibly impermissible application, the remainder of the statute covers a whole range of easily identifiable and constitutionally proscriba-ble conduct.’ ” Id. at 461 n. 6 (quoting Secretary of State v. Joseph H. Munson Co., Inc., 467 U.S. 947, 964-65, 104 S.Ct. 2839, 2850-51, 81 L.Ed.2d 786 (1984)).

The law is well established that not all classes of speech are subject to first amendment protection. “These include the lewd and obscene, the profane, the libelous, and the insulting or ‘fighting’ words— those which by their very utterance inflict injury or tend to incite an immediate breach of peace.” Chaplinsky v. New Hampshire, 315 U.S. 568, 572, 62 S.Ct. 766, 769, 86 L.Ed. 1031 (1942). See also State v. John W., 418 A.2d 1097, 1101-02 (Me.1980). In State v. John W., we addressed the constitutionality of 17-A M.R.S.A. § 501(2) (1983) (disorderly conduct statute). We noted that “[a]s applied to speech, section 501(2) represents the legislative definition of conduct coming within the fighting-words area of unprotected speech.” State v. John W., 418 A.2d at 1101. Similarly, we conclude that the conduct proscribed by the harassment statute fits within the area of unprotected speech. Because the speech proscribed by the harassment statute is unprotected, the statute is facially constitu *305 tional. Moreover, as applied to this case, the statute is constitutional. Defendant’s conduct, which was known and intended by defendant to harass and torment Mrs. Prue, falls within the language and purpose of the statute.

Defendant’s remaining constitutional arguments, unpreserved in the courts below, are based on a misunderstanding of the nature of the statutory requirement for a prior warning by a sheriff, deputy sheriff, constable, police officer or notary public. First, defendant contends that the statute is void for vagueness because the proscribed conduct cannot be determined until an authorized person identifies the specific conduct to be avoided. The purpose of the warning is to provide defendant with notice.

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Bluebook (online)
544 A.2d 302, 1988 Me. LEXIS 232, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-cropley-me-1988.