Williamson v. State

• Court: Georgia Supreme Court
• Writing for the Court: WELTNER; All the Justices concur, except JORDAN
• Citation: Williamson v. State, 249 Ga. 851, 295 S.E.2d 305 (Ga. 1982)
• Decision Date: 23 September 1982
• Docket Number: No. 38744,38744
• Parties: , 9 Media L. Rep. 1703 WILLIAMSON v. STATE.

Page 305

295 S.E.2d 305

249 Ga. 851, 9 Media L. Rep. 1703

WILLIAMSON v. STATE.

No. 38744.

Supreme Court of Georgia.

Sept. 23, 1982.

J. Dunham McAllister, McAllister & Roberts, Jonesboro, for Howard M. Williamson.

James L. Wiggins, Dist. Atty., James E. Turk, Asst. Dist. Atty., Eastman, for The State.

WELTNER, Justice.

Williamson appeals from the overruling of demurrers to indictments charging him with the offense of criminal defamation. ¹

Constrained by the decision of the Supreme Court of the United States in Gooding v. Wilson, 405 U.S. 518, 92 S.Ct. 1103, 31 L.Ed.2d 408 (1974), we hold that the requisite element of Code Ann. § 26-2804--a communication which "tends to provoke a breach of the peace"--is vague and overbroad under the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution. See also Ashton v. Kentucky, 384 U.S. 195, 200, 86 S.Ct. 1407, 1410, 16 L.Ed.2d 469 (1966).

It should be noted that the General Assembly now has limited to "fighting words" the maximum outreach of the breach of the peace provision of the opprobrious language statute, Code Ann. § 26-2610 (a), consistent with Gooding v. Wilson, supra. The equivalent language contained in the statute here in question remains unchanged.

Judgment reversed.

All the Justices concur, except JORDAN, C. J., and CLARKE and SMITH, JJ., who dissent.

1 On motion for rehearing, the opinion of July 8, 1982, has been withdrawn, and the judgment of that date vacated.