Posted on 01/03/2003 4:02:48 PM PST by FourPeas
EDITOR'S NOTE: This story contains a word that may be offensive.
MANISTEE -- If you have nothing nice to say, then don't say anything. Those could be words to live by and possibly keep people out of jail in Manistee.
Janice Barton spent four days in the Manistee County Jail before her conviction for disturbing the peace in violation of a Manistee city ordinance was overturned by an appellate court Nov. 1.
Barton referred to other restaurant patrons as "spics" on Aug. 18, 1998. As a result, she was convicted of disturbing the peace On Dec. 14, 1998.
The ordinance Barton violated states that no person shall engage in any improper conduct in public.
But Barton is not putting behind her the series of events that led to turnover of her conviction. Barton claims that police lied and the court mishandled the case while she appealed her conviction.
In the original incident report, police stated that Barton made "loud and boisterous remarks in a tone which all restaurant patrons could hear."
In the same incident report, Carol Benitez, the woman who overheard Barton's comment and filed the complaint, claimed that Barton's remarks were made in a way "which could be overheard by Carol and her father, and possibly other patrons."
Barton said that she later asked waitresses who were working in the restaurant at the time of the incident and none of them had heard her remarks.
"How could I be loud and boisterous when only one person heard me?" she said.
On Oct. 13, 1998, Barton's charge of engaging in loud and boisterous conduct was changed to engaging in insulting conduct in a public place after she and her attorney, Timothy Williams, claimed the loud and boisterous charge was incorrect.
At her first court date on Dec. 14, 1998, in the 85th District Court in Manistee, Barton and Williams claimed that Barton's remarks were covered by the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution but the judge, Brent Danielson, ruled Barton's words were fighting words, which are not protected under the First Amendment.
Fighting words are defined as remarks directed at a group of people to incite violence.
But Barton said that she didn't directly speak to Benitez, so fighting words would not apply.
Barton was found guilty of disturbing the peace and sentenced to two years probation, 45 days in jail and $500 in fines.
Williams wanted to appeal the case on grounds of constitutionality, but Danielson denied the appeal, Barton said.
After an appeal was filed Dec.16, 2001, the case was heard in circuit court Dec. 17 and sent back down to the district court because Danielson had not signed off on the original case, Barton said.
On Dec. 18, Williams informed Danielson that Barton had plead guilty to the charges and would agree to a plea bargain of seven days in jail instead of 45. Barton claims she never made any guilty plea and her attorney went over her head.
Barton said that the trial on Dec. 18 was not a legal one under Michigan law which states that a court may correct an invalid sentence, but may not correct a valid sentence.
Barton's conviction papers were also changed several times. Her conviction was changed from disorderly conduct and or disturbing the peace to disorderly obscene conduct on April 14, 2000.
That was after her conviction papers were allegedly changed multiple times, citing the incorrect ordinance and incorrect charges. Barton claimed she received different conviction papers between Feb. 24 and March 23, 2000.
After the case was sent to the Michigan Supreme Court and then back down to the appellate court, the appeals court began hearing her case in May 2001 and it was overturned after a year and a half on Nov. 1, 2002.
"This was just one big mess, hopefully that system will get cleaned up sometime in the future," Barton said
I may have confused the details but it sounds eerily like the thought laws used against this probably crude, but nonetheless should-be-allowed-to-be-crude American citizen woman (or am I supposed to say female -- no offense intended).
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.