State v. Vernale
State v. Vernale
Opinion of the Court
The defendant was accused of having committed a breach of the peace in violation of § 53-174 of the General Statutes
The trial court found the following facts, which are not subject to correction. On the night of June 19, 1965, the complaining witness, a young lady twenty-one years of age, and her sister, age fourteen, were seated in an automobile, of which the former was the operator, in the parking area of McDonald’s Restaurant in New Britain. At that time and place the defendant occupied a vehicle parked parallel with and adjacent to the aforesaid
The only errors assigned and pursued by the defendant are (1) that the use of the words mentioned above constituted a breach of the peace; and (2) that upon all the evidence the defendant was guilty of the crime charged beyond a reasonable doubt. The defendant’s brief consists of only two paragraphs, stating as his sole defenses that the complaining witness was in her own vehicle when the words were uttered in her direction and that the uttering of these words was not a stirring up and provoking of strife and contention within the meaning of the statute.
The words used by the defendant toward the complaining witness were a direct and wilful accusation insolently impugning her character, virtue and legitimacy. They are colloquially known as “fighting words.”
There is no error.
In this opinion Kinmonth and Levine, Js., concurred.
The pertinent provisions of § 53-174 are: “Any person who . . . disturbs or breaks the peace, or provokes contention, by following or mocking any person, with abusive or indecent language . . . .”
To allay any apprehension that this resort to characterization of the language employed, prompted perhaps by an outmoded fastidiousness, amounts to a mere conclusion of fact which may derive from a subjective interpretation, differing from person to person, the unchallenged finding discloses that the actual words used were “shithead,” “bitch” and “bastard.” Words such as these, although they have not been judicially disapproved when confined to literary expression (State v. Onorato, 3 Conn. Cir. Ct. 438, and cases cited), cannot be uttered with impunity when they violate § 53-174.
In “The Virginian,” by Owen Wister (a novel reputedly favored by President Theodore Roosevelt), the hero, with gun in quick reach, makes this delicate distinction: “When you call me that, smile! ”
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.