In re Douglas D.

While in class, eighth-grader Douglas D. (defendant) was given a creative-writing assignment to begin a story titled “Top Secret,” with other students to continue it. Douglas was misbehaving, so his teacher, “Mrs. C.,” sent him into the hallway to work. When Douglas returned, he handed Mrs. C. a paper that read: “There one lived an old ugly woman her name was Mrs. C that stood for crab. She was a mean old woman that would beat children sencless. I guess that’s why she became a teacher. Well one day she kick a student out of her class he din’t like it. That student was named Dick. The next morning Dick came to class in his coat he conseled a machedy. When the teacher told him to shut up he whiped it out cut her head off. When the sub came 2 days later she needed a paperclipp so she opened the droor. Ahh she screamed as she found Mrs. C.’s head in the droor.” After reading the story, Mrs. C became frightened that Douglas was threatening to harm her if she disciplined him again. When the assistant principal confronted Douglas, he said he had not intended the story as a threat and apologized. Douglas was given an in-school suspension. A month later, Douglas was criminally charged with disorderly conduct for submitting a “death threat” to Mrs. C. under circumstances tending to cause a public disturbance. Douglas was found guilty. Douglas appealed, arguing, among other things, that his story could not support a criminal conviction because it was constitutionally protected speech.