A man in Ocean City, Maryland charged last summer with numerous counts of disturbing the peace and disorderly conduct after blasting music from speakers on the Boardwalk, has pleaded not guilty to all counts and was granted probation before judgment on the other charges.
The Ocean City Police Department (OCPD) received numerous complaints from citizens and businesses about loud music being played on the Boardwalk by the man last summer. He had set up two speakers for playing music and dancing in the evening hours.
OCPD officers met with the man on several occasions and told him that he needed to lower the volume of his music to a reasonable level. When he failed to comply, OCPD officers obtained noise meter readings from various distances to confirm noise violations.
OCPD determined that the man’s actions created unreasonably loud noise and drew large crowds on the Boardwalk and the area surrounding 1st Street and law enforcement applied for charges with a District Court Commissioner. The man was charged with 10 counts of disturbing the peace-loud noise, 10 counts of disorderly conduct and two counts of failure to obey a reasonable and lawful order.
In District Court in Ocean City, the man pleaded not guilty to all counts. A visiting District Court judge granted the defendant probation before judgement on six counts of disturbing the peace and he was placed on unsupervised probation for six months.
Disturbing the peace is a criminal offense that occurs when a person engages in some form of unruly public behavior such as fighting or creates extremely loud noises. There is often an element of creating a public disruption in a charge of disturbing the peace. However, simply engaging in horseplay or accidentally bumping into someone probably won’t lead to a disturbing the peace charge.
Ocean City, Maryland being a vacation destination for so many because of its oceanside location has been serious about enforcing state laws on disorderly conduct and disturbing the peace for a number of years.
A charge of disturbing the peace is a misdemeanor and upon conviction, you are subject to a jail term of up to 60 days or a fine of up to $500 or both.
Fines are common in disturbing the peace charges and if jail time is ordered, judges often add the time spent in jail to the jail term you are ordered to serve. An Ocean City disturbing the peace criminal defense lawyer can provide more details.
A prosecutor has to prove that you intended to perform certain acts likely to lead to disturbing the public, provoking violence, causing a disturbance or disturbing the peace.
An Ocean City disturbing the peace lawyer can help you with your criminal charge. An experienced attorney can go over the facts of your case to determine the best defense. In many instances, the police reports on this type of charge need to be scrutinized to determine if the law was not applied correctly or there is an attempt to punish the content of the speech rather than the noise level. The consultation is free.
The Law Office of Thomas J. Maronick is open during the pandemic and will continue to meet your Glen Burnie, Annapolis, Baltimore, Essex, Ocean City, Towson, White Marsh disturbing the peace defense needs. If you have access to Zoom, we can meet with you remotely. You can contact Thomas Maronick on his cellphone at 202.288.0167, the law office at 443-351-6657 or via the website.