Street preacher's rants are protected speech, rules Oregon court
By The Associated Press
11.04.01
SALEM, Ore. — Loudly calling people "whoremongers" and "drunkards" in public isn't enough to convict a street preacher of disorderly conduct, the state Court of Appeals has ruled.
The court said Eugene authorities wrongly used a disorderly conduct ordinance to quell the free-speech rights of Daniel Lee, even though he provoked passers-by with inflammatory accusations.
Pounding on his Bible and preaching at the city's downtown mall on April 16, 1999, Lee accused passers-by of various sins. He called one man who stopped to debate him "a drunkard" and made repeated references to "whores." When Lee told a woman who was kissing her fiancé she was a whore and was going to hell, the couple complained to police, who arrested Lee.
Police said as many as 35 people had surrounded Lee and that he was trying to provoke a fight, violating the ordinance's ban on fighting or "violent, tumultuous or threatening behavior." He also was charged with unreasonable noise violations and obstructing pedestrian traffic.
In reversing his conviction, the appeals court said in its Oct. 31 opinion that Lee didn't violate any of the prohibitions. There was no evidence, the court said, that Lee engaged in any physical aggression but that he was arrested because police thought his words would cause others to do so.
Nor did authorities cite anything but the content of Lee's speech in claiming that he had caused a public annoyance due to noise, the court said.
The court said Lee's "religious opinions, although upsetting to some listeners, simply cannot be considered unreasonable noise" under free-speech protections. And the appeals panel said Lee didn't obstruct pedestrians because those who didn't want to stop and listen simply could walk on.
"Street preaching that induces some people in a busy public walkway to stop and listen while others may pass unimpeded is expressive activity that is protected" by the Oregon Constitution, the court said.