Rozier v. State, 53030
| Decision Date | 05 November 1976 |
| Docket Number | No. 53030,No. 1,53030,1 |
| Citation | 140 Ga.App. 356,231 S.E.2d 131 |
| Parties | M. D. ROZIER v. The STATE |
| Court | Georgia Court of Appeals |
Lane & Littlefield, Grayson P. Lane, Brunswick, for appellant.
Delman L. Minchew, Solicitor, Waycross, for appellee.
The accusation alleged that defendant 'did without provocation use to and in the presence of . . ., a 16-year-old female, . . . abusive and profane language which he knew or should have known by their very utterance would tend to incite an immediate breach of the peace, said language being, to-wit: 'How about some pussy'?, said utterance being in violation of Georgia Code Section 26-2610.' Code § 26-2610(a) provides: 'A person who commits any of the following acts is guilty of a misdemeanor: (a) Without provocation, uses to or of another, in his presence, opprobrious or abusive words which by their very utterance tend to incite to an immediate breach of the peace; that is to say, words which as a matter of common knowledge and under ordinary circumstances will, when used to or of another person in his presence, naturally tend to provoke violent resentment, that is, words commonly called fighting words.' This statute is very plainly designed to punish 'fighting words' which by their utterance tend to incite an immediate breach of the peace. See Gooding v. Wilson, 405 U.S. 518, 92 S.Ct. 1103, 31 L.Ed.2d 408. The evidence by the state revealed that the defendant made this remark to the victim while the latter was at home with her five year old brother. This remark, when considered under the circumstances and in the context in which it was made, did not constitute 'fighting words.' Thus, there was no violation of this statute.
Judgment reversed.
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Hershfield v. Com.
...neighbor a sexual activity; however, they did not suggest a challenge or an intimation of threatening contact. In Rozier v. State, 140 Ga.App. 356, 231 S.E.2d 131 (1976), the court held as a matter of law that a vulgar sexual proposition made to a female in her presence "did not constitute ......
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Lamar v. Banks
...21, 222 S.E.2d 856 (1975), where convictions under the statute were upheld. Reversing a conviction, the court in Rozier v. State, 140 Ga.App. 356, 231 S.E.2d 131 (1976), held that a remark made by a young man to a 16-year-old female did not constitute "fighting words." 11 These decisions in......
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State v. Klinakis
...there was sufficient provocation to excuse their use) with Crolley v. State, 182 Ga.App. 2, 3(2), 354 S.E.2d 864 and Rozier v. State, 140 Ga.App. 356, 231 S.E.2d 131. Moreover, if this confrontational situation is found to have arisen as a dispute regarding a forthcoming union representatio......
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Lundgren v. State, A99A0563.
...is designed to punish "fighting words" which by their very utterance tend to incite an immediate breach of peace. Rozier v. State, 140 Ga.App. 356, 231 S.E.2d 131 (1976). To ensure no abridgment of constitutional rights, the application of OCGA § 16-11-39's proscription on "fighting words" ......