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What is Disorderly Conduct?
We’ve all heard the phrase Disorderly Conduct but might not know what the crime is legally speaking.
Legally known as disorderly persons, disorderly conduct most often refers to conduct that a person was intoxicated in public and endangering the safety of another person.
Disorderly Conduct Legally Speaking
For a person to be convicted of disorderly conduct, the prosecution must show the person was:
- Intoxicated (drunk or high)
- In public
- Endangering the safety of another person
These are the three elements necessary for a disorderly conduct-public intoxication conviction. All three elements must be met and proven for a person to be guilty of disorderly conduct.
You can see that it is not disorderly conduct to simply be intoxicated in public. There are people who drunk in public all the time. Just go downtown Ann Arbor during football season or drive down South University on a Saturday night. To be a disorderly person, a person must be endangering the safety of another person.
This means the person was doing something that was dangerous, unsafe, or could possibly hurt someone.
There is an important distinction here. The person must have done some act that could have been dangerous to the public.
Fighting Disorderly Conduct Charges
There are many drunk people in public all the time. The person must be actively endangering the public to be guilty of a crime. While someone might be drunk, that person is not necessarily a danger to anyone. The person could be annoying, could be loud or obnoxious, but not necessarily a danger or a threat to safety.
Endangering the safety of another person could mean picking a fight with another person, throwing dangerous objects, or pushing other persons.
We have seen many people charged with disorderly conduct who are not guilty of disorderly conduct.
Contact Us
Call Sam Bernstein at 734-883-9584 or e-mail at bernstein@arborypsilaw.com.
Sam Bernstein is a criminal defense and DUI attorney based in Ypsilanti and Ann Arbor.
ArborYpsi Law is located at 2750 Carpenter Rd #2, Ann Arbor, MI 48108.
What We Can Do For You
ArborYpsi Law has represented many people of disorderly conduct – public intoxication. We have fought charges successfully and kept convictions off of client’s records.
For More Information
Read our other articles:
- ArborYpsi Law Blog
- What is ‘Operating’ While Intoxicated?
- Washtenaw County Begins Roadside Saliva DUI Test
- Ypsilanti Criminal Lawyer
Call ArborYpsi Law at 734-883-9584 to speak with a Washtenaw County Criminal Defense Attorney