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Supreme Court Hears Hecklers' Appeal

MONTPELIER -- Two anti-war demonstrators who heckled a Bush administration official during a 2006 appearance asked Vermont's highest court Tuesday to throw out the criminal charges against them, saying their remarks were free speech protected by the First Amendment.
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Boots Wardinski, 65, of Newbury, and Michael Colby, 44, of Worcester, were ejected from a St. Johnsbury Academy graduation ceremony at which then-national intelligence director John Negroponte spoke.

About 75 peace activists protesting Negroponte's involvement in U.S. foreign policy showed up at the event but were told not to enter the field house where it took place.

Two were arrested when they did, and Wardinski and Colby were arrested after they stood and shouted at Negroponte -- whose son was among the graduates -- during his address. Wardinski said Negroponte "had blood on his hands" because of his involvement in U.S. foreign policy, urging the crowd to join him in walking out on the address.

The two were charged with disorderly conduct for recklessly creating a risk of public inconvenience by attempting to disturb a lawful assembly.

Colby later pleaded no contest to the charge, but preserved his right to seek an opinion from the Vermont Supreme Court about whether the charge was proper; Wardinski is awaiting trial.

In a 30-minute hearing before the Vermont Supreme Court on Tuesday, their attorney, David Sleigh, told the justices the disorderly conduct charges couldn't stand because Negroponte's 8 1/2-minute speech was interrupted for less than 25 seconds, no one walked out when Wardinski urged it, and Wardinski didn't resist arrest or otherwise disrupt the event.

Sleigh said the U.S. Constitution bars criminal liability in such cases unless there's an actual disruption.

The justices saved their toughest questions for Caledonia County State's Attorney Bob Butterfield, asking him how the words of Wardinski and Colby could be construed as criminal conduct.

He told them that if not for the quick work of law enforcement officers at the event, the interruption could have caused a much bigger disruption to the ceremony.

In a brief submitted to the court, Deputy State's Attorney Kyle Sipples asserted that the statute covering the charges doesn't require the creation of a public inconvenience or annoyance, just that the two created the risk of one.

The court didn't immediately rule Tuesday.

"The case is important because if the state doesn't have to prove a lawful assembly was disrupted, then they can prosecute you on your thoughts," Sleigh said in an interview. "If speech isn't protected, certainly your thoughts should be."

Wardinski, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran who works as a landscaper, wore a "Veterans for Peace" T-shirt as he sat with Colby in the front row for the hearing.

Colby, a writer, said after the hearing they had no regrets about interrupting Negroponte's speech.

"We're proud of what we did. Based on the questions we heard the court ask, it would seem to me that the state's case is flimsy at best. We were simply trying to exercise our First Amendment right to free speech, and we were arrested in trying to do so," Colby said.