Hopewell Borough Disorderly Conduct Lawyer
There are plenty of individuals who have found themselves at the Hopewell Borough municipal court for the purpose of fighting against disorderly conduct charges. This is because disorderly conduct is often a catch-all type crime charged by law enforcement when someone acts in a disruptive way in public. The knowledgeable and professional disorderly conduct criminal defense attorneys at the Law Offices of Jonathan F. Marshall are eager to help you with your charges. Let us know how we can help you by contacting us when it is best for you. You can also contact us by telephone at 609–683–8102 to speak to one of our disorderly conduct lawyers in a free initial consultation.
What Constitutes Disorderly Conduct in New Jersey?
In New Jersey you can be charged with disorderly conduct for several different reasons. To say this another way, several different behaviors can technically constitute disorderly conduct, which is why law enforcement is so quick to arrest and charge people with this disorderly persons offense. Under N.J.S.A. 2C:33-2, disorderly conduct is defined as:
- When a person engages in improper conduct that causes public inconvenience, annoyance or alarm, or recklessly creates a risk of causing public inconvenience, annoyance or alarm by:
- Engaging in a fight, engaging in threatening, or engaging and violent or tumultuous behavior (e.g., causing a fight, encouraging disruptive discourse, fighting or panic in a public place, etc.); or
- Creating a hazardous or physically dangerous condition by his or her actions, which serves no legitimate purpose (e.g., causing a riot or stampede of people for no reason).
- When a person uses offensive language in a public place for the purpose of offending the sensibilities of those who hear it, or when a person recklessly disregards the probability of offending someone with the use of offensive language. The offensive language must be spoken unreasonably loud and offensively coarse or abusive in view of the circumstances surrounding the use of the offensive language (e.g., purposely and deliberately using vulgar or profane language in front of children or purposely yelling offensive speech tailored to incite outrage from a certain group of people in the public).
The offense must be committed in a public place and be disruptive to the public. A public place is any place that the public has substantial group access. Examples of public places include schools, places of worship, transportation facilities such as buses or trains, apartment complexes, neighborhoods, playgrounds, places of business, etc.
In order to be convicted of disorderly conduct in Hopewell Borough, New Jersey, the state prosecutor must prove that the defendant’s improper behavior or use of offensive language was purposeful conduct on his or her part. But not only must it be proven beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant’s behavior was purposeful, it must be proven that the purpose of the disorderly conduct was to cause public inconvenience, annoyance or alarm. Many disorderly conduct defense strategies are based on the prosecution’s inability to prove the defendant’s purposeful intent to be disorderly in his or her conduct.
Facing Disorderly Conduct Charges in Hopewell Borough?
At The Law Offices of Jonathan F. Marshall, we take our clients charges very seriously and provide each client’s defense with the time and thoroughness that it requires. For years we have helped clients just like you fight disorderly conduct charges and we are ready and available to put our decades of criminal defense experience to work for you. If you would like to speak to a disorderly conduct attorney serving Hopewell Borough, please do not hesitate to contact us at 609–683–8102. We provide free 24/7 initial consultation services to all prospective clients.