Vulgar Signs Condemning City Official, ~1200 Feet from Official’s Home, Constitutionally Protected
Some excerpts from today’s long decision by Judge Stacey D. Neumann in Roussel v. Mayo (D. Me.):
Plaintiff Joseph F. Roussel sued the city manager of Old Town, Maine, various Old Town police officers, and the Piscataquis County Sheriff for allegedly violating his First Amendment rights. This case began as a disagreement over the masking policy at the Old Town City Hall during the COVID-19 pandemic. But it developed into an acrimonious dispute, and the situation deteriorated further when Mr. Roussel did two things that are the subject of this Order: First, while passing by the city manager’s lakefront house on his friend’s boat, Mr. Roussel shouted expletives at the city manager. Second, Mr. Roussel posted strongly worded and expletive-laden signs on the side of the private road leading to the city manager’s house. In response, the city manager enlisted Piscataquis County Sheriff Robert Young to serve Mr. Roussel with a cease harassment notice.
The court largely allowed Roussel’s First Amendment claim to go forward:
Mr. Roussel was with his friends—who lived in the area—on their boat on Schoodic Lake, in Lake View Plantation, Maine. As they happened to pass by a particular house on the lakeshore, one of Mr. Roussel’s friends told him that Mr. Mayo lived there. Mr. Roussel saw two people seated on the porch near the lakeshore at Mr. Mayo’s home, and he assumed that one of them was Mr. Mayo. Mr. Roussel shouted at the people on Mr. Mayo’s porch, “fuck you, try trespassing me from here you tyrant piece of shit,” referencing the City Hall trespass warning from the previous fall [related to the disagreement about masks].
Mr. Mayo was, in fact, sitting on his porch with a friend when Mr. Roussel passed by Mr. Mayo heard someone shouting at him but did not recognize who it was….
A week later, … Mr. Roussel drove to Lake View Plantation to meet with friends who lived there. Mr. Roussel spoke with them about posting signs on the roads nearby. After he left his friends’ house, he posted … signs near Mr. Mayo’s home, along Hancock Road and Railroad Bed Road. The signs displayed the following language in all capital letters:
- FUCK YOU WILLIAM MAYO
- WILLIAM MAYO HATES FREE SPEECH RIGHTS AND LAWS MATTER MORE THAN YOUR FEELINGS SUCK IT
- SOMETIMES WHEN YOUR A TYRANT AT WORK THEY FIGURE OUT WHERE YOU LIVE AND SCOTT WILCOX CANT HELP
- WILLIAM MAYO SUPPORTS BIDEN ANOTHER SHIT BAG THAT HATES FREEDOM THE CONSTITUTION MATTERS MORE THAN YOUR LIMP DICK
- FREEDOM OF SPEECH MATTERS MOST WHEN YOU DONT LIKE IT FUCK YOU WILLIAM MAYO EAT A BAG OF DICKS
The closest sign was located approximately 1,200 feet from Mr. Mayo’s house, posted on a utility pole near the primary entrance into the subdivision. None of the signs were posted on the final access road to Mr. Mayo’s property. Mr. Roussel himself never went closer than within 1,000 feet of Mr. Mayo’s home when he posted the signs. Nor did Mr. Roussel confront—or even see—Mr. Mayo in person when he posted the signs….
The court held that Roussel’s speech was constitutionally protected:
When Mr. Roussel passed by Mr. Mayo’s home on the lake, he shouted at Mr. Mayo’s porch, “fuck you, try trespassing me from here you tyrant piece of shit.” That speech does not fall into
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