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6 ¦ AUGUST 31, 2020 NEWS

¦ From WHEN THE on PAGE 5 limited and, essentially, anything
The high court ruling means goes.”
that Liebenguth’s second-degree Williams said that “in the ev-
breach-of-peace charge will be eryday practicality for my client,
reinstated. Liebenguth was sen- this has no impact. But for people
tenced to probation, and later who believe in a robust and wide-
faced a second charge: tampering The court found the N-word open speech, it’s a bad day.”
with a witness. “itself is a word likely to
But the Supreme Court reiter-
provoke a violent response.” ated that the First Amendment

‘Horrible,’ but protected? doesn’t mean that speech has no
Prosecutors argued the second- consequence.
degree breach-of-peace charge “Because the First Amendment
resulted from a violation of the does not shield such speech from
state’s General Statutes, which prosecution, the state was free to
prohibit abusive or obscene lan- use it to obtain the defendant’s
guage intended to cause annoyance or alarm in conviction of breach of peace in the second degree,”
public places. Palmer wrote.
“I’m shocked and pretty astonished,” said John Representing the state were Timothy Costello,
Williams, Liebenguth’s New Haven lawyer, about assistant state’s attorney; Chief State’s Attorney Rich-
the 7-0 ruling. “Since the Supreme Court said I’m ard Colangelo Jr.; and Nadia Prinz, a former deputy
wrong, I guess I’m wrong.” assistant state’s attorney. Alaine Griffin, spokesper-
Williams continued: “I believe what he said was son for the Office of Chief State’s Attorney, declined
awful and abhorrent, and it was just that. But it to comment.
has to be protected speech. If that’s not protect- ¦

ed speech, then what is? Every case in American Robert Storace covers legal trends, lawsuits and
history which has advanced a proposition of free analysis for the Connecticut Law Tribune. Follow
speech has done so in the context of horrible, hor- him on Twitter @RobertSCTLaw or reach him at
rible speech. This ruling means free speech is more 203-437-5950.

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