Florida State University Law Review Volume 6 Issue 2 Article 10 Spring 1978 Spears v. State, 337 So. 2d 977 (Fla. 1976) John Mueller Follow this and additional works at: https://ir.law.fsu.edu/lr Part of the Constitutional Law Commons, First Amendment Commons, and the State and Local Government Law Commons Recommended Citation John Mueller, Spears v. State, 337 So. 2d 977 (Fla. 1976), 6 Fla. St. U. L. Rev. 531 (1978) . https://ir.law.fsu.edu/lr/vol6/iss2/10 This Comment is brought to you for free and open access by Scholarship Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Florida State University Law Review by an authorized editor of Scholarship Repository. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. CASE COMMENT Constitutional Law-SPEECH-FLORIDA'S INDECENT AND OBSCENE LANGUAGE STATUTE DECLARED UNCONSTITUTIONAL ON ITS FACE FOR OVERBREADTH-Spears v. State, 337 So. 2d 977 (Fla. 1976). A Wakulla County Sheriffs deputy answered a disturbance call at Evan's Pool Hall on October 26, 1975. Upon pulling into the area of the pool hall, he heard Blannie Mae Spears cursing "in a loud and angry manner."' He arrested her and charged her with publicly using "indecent or obscene language, to wit: SON OF A BITCH, BASTARD M.F. ETC, [sic] contrary to section 847.05, FLORIDA STATUTES." ' 2 The statute provided: "Any person who shall pub- licly use or utter any indecent or obscene language shall be guilty of a misdemeanor .... ''3 In Wakulla County Court Ms. Spears sought dismissal of the charge on the ground that the statute was an unconstitutional abridgment of the freedom of speech guaranteed by the first and fourteenth amendments to the United States Constitution.