State v. Liebenguth

Summary

The court held that the defendant's racially abusive language, considered together with the surrounding hostile conduct and circumstances, constituted unprotected fighting words likely to provoke an immediate violent response. Because the speech was not protected by the First Amendment, it could support the defendant's conviction for breach of the peace in the second degree. The court reversed the intermediate appellate court's judgment as to that conviction and directed it to affirm the trial court's judgment.