Graduation season is upon us and many are attending festivities to celebrate the accomplishments of family members and friends. The graduation ceremonies are formal events where people can come together to commend the hard work of the graduating class. Many times, these are loud and festive events with much cheering and jubilee. However, the graduation celebration one family attended was the exact opposite. When the superintendent made the announcement that everyone needed to hold their cheering and applause until the end of the ceremony, he really wasn’t kidding. Four people who were there to watch a family member walk across the stage learned that the hard way – when they were presented with criminal charges. That’s right, the school district reported them to the police after escorting them out of the auditorium and the family was charged with Disorderly Conduct. While most graduations are a celebration of amazing accomplishments, this one turned into a nightmare for this family. This superintendent’s power trip ruined the whole occasion.
Disorderly Conduct in Weld County
In Weld, Morgan, and Logan County, the definition of Disorderly Conductt – C.R.S. 18-9-106 – under Colorado law is:
(a) Makes a coarse and obviously offensive utterance, gesture, or display in a public place and the utterance, gesture, or display tends to incite an immediate breach of the peace; or
(c) Makes unreasonable noise in a public place or near a private residence that he has no right to occupy; or
(d) Fights with another in a public place except in an amateur or professional contest of athletic skill; or
(e) Not being a peace officer, discharges a firearm in a public place except when engaged in lawful target practice or hunting or the ritual discharge of blank ammunition cartridges as an attendee at a funeral for a deceased person who was a veteran of the armed forces of the United States; or
(f) Not being a peace officer, displays a deadly weapon, displays any article used or fashioned in a manner to cause a person to reasonably believe that the article is a deadly weapon, or represents verbally or otherwise that he or she is armed with a deadly weapon in a public place in a manner calculated to alarm.
Have you been charged with Disorderly Conduct? Contact the experienced criminal defense lawyers from the O’Malley Law Office to defend you today!
Have you been charged with Disorderly Conduct? Contact the experienced criminal defense lawyers from the O’Malley Law Office to defend you today!
How Does Disorderly Conduct Apply to this Case or Similar Greeley Cases?
While most of these elements do not apply to the family above, item (c) “makes unreasonable noise in a public place” is what got this family charged. But what constitutes unreasonable noise? Clapping and cheering during a celebratory moment? I don’t think so. Now, since there was a disclaimer put in the program announcements stating “anyone who was disruptive or didn’t hold their applause could be removed,” then it is understandable the family was escorted out for not following the rules. But was it a criminal offense? Definitely not. Must have been a really slow day for crime if the police wanted to waste their time and the Court’s time on this frivolous case. A skilled criminal defense lawyer can win that case at trial.
If you or someone you love has been charged with Disorderly Conduct in Greeley, Windsor, or Berthoud, be smart, exercise your right to remain silent, and contact the best criminal defense attorneys from the O’Malley Law Office at 970-616-6009 to schedule a free consultation. Together, we can protect your future.
Image Credit: Pixabay – stevensokulski