Free Speech

Judge Says Writing 'F*ck Your Sh*tty Town Bitches' On Ticket Payment Form Is Free Speech

Justice has been served for a Connecticut man with a penchant for scrawling nasty screeds.

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Thanks to a federal judge, justice has been served for a Connecticut man with a penchant for scrawling nasty screeds on municipal paperwork.

Three years ago, Willian Barboza, a 21-year-old student at the time, received a speeding ticket in Liberty, New York. The total fine was $175, and Barboza, who was less than pleased that he’d have to shell out the money, wrote a less than eloquent message on the speeding ticket payment form. Here it is, in all of its vulgar glory:

In addition to writing “FUCK YOUR SHITTY TOWN BITCHES,” Barboza crossed out the town name “Liberty,” replacing it with “Tyranny.” Irony wasn’t lost on this angry man.

Upon receiving Barboza’s profanity-laced ticket payment form in the mail, Liberty refused to accept his money. Instead, he was ordered by Justice Brian P. Rourke to appear for a hearing on October 18, 2012. According to court documents, at that hearing, Barboza was lectured about his of foul language, charged with aggravated harassment, and arrested. He was released on $200 bail after spending about five hours in police custody. The charges against Barboza were dropped a year later by a different judge, who conveniently bolstered Barboza’s eventual lawsuit by writing that “[n]o citation is necessary for this Court to determine that the language under the circumstances here, offensive as it is, is protected.”

After the charges were dismissed against Barboza, he filed suit against Liberty and the town’s prosecutor, Robert Zangla, with the assistance of the New York Civil Liberties Union and Stephen Bergstein of Bergstein & Ullrich. His First Amendment rights had been violated, and he wanted New York’s aggravated harassment ordinance to be scrubbed from the books, because seriously, fuck all the bitches in that shitty town.

Judge Cathy Siebel of the Southern District of New York ruled last week that Barboza’s right to free speech had been infringed upon when he was prosecuted and arrested for writing a nastygram on his speeding ticket payment form. From the Huffington Post:

Seibel said Thursday that what Barboza wrote, “though crude and offensive to some, did not convey an imminent threat and was made in the context of complaining about government activity,” and therefore did not violate the statute.

“The words here are not inherently likely to provoke violent reaction, they were not directed at anyone in particular, and could not be interpreted as threatening any particular action,” Seibel said.

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Upon being handed this victory by Judge Seibel, Barboza said, “I hope that by standing up for myself, other Americans will not be treated like criminals for complaining about their government with a few harmless words.” Hopefully Liberty will follow through with this ruling and refrain from making arrests under New York’s aggravated harassment statute, but until that time comes, FUCK YOUR SHITTY TOWN, BITCHES.

U.S. Judge Upholds Right to Scrawl Nasty Note on Speeding Ticket Payment [New York Times]
Scrawling ‘F**k Your S**tty Town Bitches’ On Speeding Ticket Is Free Speech, Judge Finds [Huffington Post]
Court Affirms Your Right To Scrawl “Fuck Your Shitty Town” On Speeding Tickets Received In Shitty Towns [Gawker]

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