Disorderly Conduct Lawyer in Southern Illinois

Disorderly Conduct Lawyer in Southern Illinois

Disorderly conduct charges have long been used to prosecute people who aggravate others. A conviction for this criminal offense can result in a sentence ranging from probation or a brief jail stay to several years in prison.

The criminal defense attorneys at Combs Waterkotte have over 60 years of combined legal experience fighting for the rights of the accused throughout Southern Illinois. We can provide an aggressive and tailored defense regardless of the severity of your charges.

What Is Disorderly Conduct?

Disorderly conduct laws generally address two types of offenses. First, some states use disorderly conduct to punish those who are intoxicated in public. Drunkenness has often been viewed as uncivilized, and disorderly conduct laws allowed police officers to arrest and jail people for their drunken acts.

Second, many states use disorderly conduct as a catchall for a range of harassing behaviors. Blocking traffic, shouting and cursing, and fighting in public have often been included in disorderly conduct statutes.

Unfortunately, the police have also cited this offense to move, harass, or incarcerate the homeless or mentally ill when their actions appear to fall within the scope of the law. Officers may arrest these individuals, restoring order for bystanders and businesses at their expense.

Finally, some police agencies and officers use disorderly conduct charges as a pretext to search those they find suspicious. For example, the police might receive a call about someone acting erratically and arrest the person for disorderly conduct, knowing they may find drugs while searching them. This discovery, in turn, results in drug charges.

Illinois Disorderly Conduct Statutes

Illinois law highlights over a dozen acts across three statutes that qualify as disorderly conduct. Prosecutors can prosecute you for disorderly conduct for doing any of the following:

Breaching the Peace in Southern Illinois

The Illinois disorderly conduct statute has a catchall offense that the police can use for generic disturbances. Specifically, disorderly conduct occurs when the accused performs any act in an unreasonable manner, alarming or disturbing others. As a result, the accused provokes a “breach of the peace.”

This is the section that officers typically use against mentally ill or intoxicated people who are annoying or harassing others.

False Reporting

The statute notes several types of false reporting that can trigger disorderly conduct charges, including:

• False fire report
• False bomb threat
• False biological, chemical, or radioactive device report
• False threat of destroying a school or harming any person at a school, school function, or school event
• False crime report
• False public safety report
• False 911 alarms or complaints
• False report of child abuse or neglect
• False public health report
• False request for an ambulance, paramedic, or EMT
• Any other false official report

The purposes of punishing false reporting include preventing public panic, eliminating the waste of official resources to investigate false reports, and keeping units available for real emergencies. Since some of these acts can have serious consequences, they may be punished as felonies.

Peeping in Southern Illinois

Disorderly conduct includes entering someone else’s property to look through a dwelling window or other opening for a lewd or unlawful purpose. This law is one of the primary tools used to prosecute “peeping Toms.”

However, the statute isn’t limited to peeping for sexual gratification. It encompasses any unlawful purpose, which could include surveillance.

Improper Debt Collecting in Southern Illinois

Illinois prohibits collection agencies from performing certain behaviors toward alleged debtors while collecting debts. It enforces this prohibition by classifying these acts as a form of disorderly conduct. Specifically, a business can commit disorderly conduct by making a telephone call to harass, annoy, or intimidate the debtor.

Disrupting a Funeral or Memorial Service

Disorderly conduct at a funeral happens when someone knows a funeral is occurring and performs certain disruptive acts.

For instance, a person or group might engage in loud singing, music playing, chanting, whistling, yelling, or noisemaking at a volume that’s disturbing to a funeral site. The statute doesn’t require the accused to use audio amplification to commit this offense. However, they must be within 300 feet of the funeral site to violate the law.

This offense can also happen when a person or group knows about the funeral and displays a sign or visual images within 300 feet of the funeral site. Under the statute, the sign or visual image must include express or implied threats or fighting words.

Lastly, someone engages in disorderly conduct when they obstruct, impede, or block another’s entry or exit from a funeral site. Again, they must know that the funeral is occurring, but they don’t need to have any specific goal in blocking people from entering or exiting.

For example, someone can violate this portion of the statute regardless of whether they blocked the site in question because they were drunk or because they were protesting.

Misusing a Laser in Southern Illinois

As you may have seen in movies or TV shows, firearm laser sights produce a distinctive spot of light on their target. Illinois deems it disorderly conduct to misuse a laser or laser pointer to create that image by aiming it at a police officer or an aircraft.

Other Disorderly Conduct Offenses in Illinois

The article entitled “Disorderly Conduct” in the Illinois Compiled Statutes also contains other offenses considered disorderly conduct without being labeled as such. These offenses include:

• Interfering with an emergency CB radio transmission
• Using a fax machine for unsolicited advertising or fundraising
• Recording and transmitting video without permission
• Watching or listening to a consumer without permission as a communication services company

These acts can expose perpetrators to fines and potential jail time.

Possible Defenses Against Disorderly Conduct in Southern Illinois

Your Southern Illinois criminal defense attorney can raise several arguments in response to disorderly conduct charges. These arguments could include questioning the validity or accuracy of the prosecution’s evidence, showing that the prosecution failed to prove an essential element of the offense, or presenting an affirmative defense.

Here are some possible criminal defense strategies for handling disorderly conduct cases:

Lack of Intent

Prosecutors must prove that you engaged in the disruptive act willfully and knowingly. If you lacked the required knowledge or intent, the jury must acquit you.

For example, making a false report requires knowledge that there’s no emergency to report. If you honestly believed an emergency was occurring, you lacked the intent to make a false report.

Insanity

Since disorderly conduct starts with unreasonable or outrageous acts, insanity is often a valid defense. However, your attorney must prove that you were more than stressed out or mentally unwell—they must show that your mental condition was so poor that you couldn’t appreciate the nature of your actions.

Consent

Consent might be a defense to certain offenses considered disorderly conduct. For example, playing loud music at a funeral isn’t necessarily disorderly conduct if the deceased person’s family asked you to play it.

Possible Penalties for Disorderly Conduct in Southern Illinois

The punishments for disorderly conduct offenses include the following: