Court gives Salem police right to tell loud-mouthed preachers with megaphones to knock it off on Halloween

The Massachusetts Appeals Court today upheld the disorderly-conduct conviction of a Philadelphia preacher who likes to show up in Salem on Halloween and use a megaphone to demand that revelers repent.

The court said the First Amendment did not give Mark Marcavage the right on Halloween, 2007 to frighten people by bellowing at them - often through a megaphone a foot or less from their faces - or to seemingly threaten them with a Bible he waved in his hand. And police showed "admirable restraint" in giving Marcavage repeated warnings about his megaphone, the court ruled.

With a crowded square becoming filled with growing numbers of drunks in a city known for its violent outbursts on the holiday, police had the right to try to confiscate his megaphone when they grew concerned for public safety, the court said:

The defendant held tightly to the megaphone and verbally protested the confiscation. Two officers assisted the supervisor, and pushing and shoving between the defendant and the officers resulted. Then, the defendant "went limp," which caused him to fall into the fountain, bringing the officers to the ground with him. Immediately thereafter, the officers stood up and arrested the defendant. The crowd was noisy and raucous, and the area was congested and became dangerous. The defendant, by refusing police orders and resisting the confiscation of the megaphone, drew a hostile crowd that was out of control. The police were concerned for their own safety as well as the safety of the crowd.

Complete ruling.

This is not the first time a court has ruled Marcavage's right to free speech ends at other people's ear drums.