Last Halloween, Jason Carrick was hosting a party at his rural Wayne County home. Neighbors called the sheriff, complaining that the loud music and booming bass were vibrating windows. Carrick got a warning, and when calls kept coming in, deputies got signed statements from neighbors and came back to Carrick’s house, this time issuing him a citation for misdemeanor disorderly conduct. His lawyer Clark Owens explained to the justices why Carrick appealed it.
“The proposition of law is that the making unreasonable noise provision of Ohio’s disorderly conduct statute is unconstitutional on its face because it is void for vagueness.”
In other words, how can it be determined when or if noise is unreasonable?
“Making unreasonable noise, that is, being unreasonable, which is a notoriously porous concept. If you’ve ever had an argument with your significant other about which of the two of you is being unreasonable, you know that is a very difficult thing to pin down and it lends itself to subjective determinations.”
But the attorney representing Wayne County said it’s a fair and easy argument.
“This statute does provide for a comprehensible, normative standard that a person of ordinary sensibilities would understand.”
Latecia Wiles told the court the reasonable person standard is present throughout criminal law – such as in the concepts of reasonable speed, reasonable control, reasonable force.
“We see it in the self-defense statute, where an individual must prove that he had a reasonable and honest belief that his life was in jeopardy. We see it in excessive force cases. We see it in public indecency cases, where the issue is whether the conduct was an affront to others.”
Owens argued that while a very precise law can’t be written to cover every case, there should be language that’s more specific to give a defendant evidence that can be rebutted. Otherwise, he said, it’s a dangerous situation.
“If police have carte blanche to define for us what is or is not reasonable noise without any other guidance anywhere from the legislature, we live in a police state.”
But Wiles said complaining witnesses can give evidence, and law enforcement personnel are in a much better position to determine if noise is reasonable than lawmakers are.
“You can’t put a certain decibel level in a statute and make it apply in all situations. You have to take into account the surrounding circumstances.”
Both sides admitted there were problems between Carrick and his neighbors. And Carrick’s house was outside the city limits, so there are no city noise ordinances involved, and township zoning ordinances didn’t cover the noise at his house either.