Disorderly Conduct in Royal Oak

44th District Court has jurisdiction over criminal offenses committed in the cities of Royal Oak and Berkley. Both Royal Oak and Berkley are known for their restaurants and bars. They are also heavily patrolled by the police. This leads to a lot of alcohol-related charges in 44th District Court, in particular, Disorderly Conduct. While Disorderly Conduct is not strictly limited to alcohol-related situations, in Royal Oak, alcohol is usually involved. Whether it results from walking around in public with a beer in your hand or acting in a drunk and disorderly manner, a Disorderly Conduct charge can turn an evening of fun into a criminal record.

It is important to understand that disorderly conduct is a misdemeanor criminal charge, not a civil infraction. If keeping your criminal record clean, avoiding jail and protecting your reputation is important to you, you want an experienced criminal defense lawyer defending you. Disorderly conduct can be charged under Royal Oak city ordinance or state law. The Royal Oak Disorderly Conduct ordinance which reads as follows:

A person commits the offense of disorderly conduct if he or she:

A.  Engages in fighting or in violent, tumultuous or threatening behavior;

B.  Makes unreasonable noise which tends to cause a public danger, alarm, disorder or nuisance;

C.  Uses threatening, abusive or obscene language or makes an obscene gesture, which by their very use inflict injury or tend to incite a breach of the peace;

D.  Without lawful authority, disturbs any lawful assembly or meeting of persons;

E.  Obstructs vehicular or pedestrian traffic;

F.  Possesses or consumes alcoholic liquor in any public park, public place of amusement, or area under the jurisdiction of the City of Royal Oak that is owned and/or administered by the City of Royal Oak;

G.  Urinates in a public place, except at public toilets.

H.  Engages in an illegal occupation or business;

I.  Loiters in a house of ill fame or prostitution or place where prostitution or lewdness is practiced, encouraged, or allowed;

J.  Knowingly loiters in or about a place where an illegal occupation or business is being conducted;

K.  Is found jostling or roughly crowding people unnecessarily in a public place;

L.  Commits the offense of failure as a disorderly person to disperse if he or she participates with two more other persons in a course of disorderly conduct likely to cause substantial harm or serious inconvenience, annoyance or alarm, and intentionally refuses or fails to disperse when ordered to do so by a peace officer or other public servant engaged in executing or enforcing the law;

M.  Permits or suffers any place occupied or controlled by him or her to be a resort of noisy, boisterous, or disorderly persons.

N.  A person commits the offense of public intoxication if he or she appears in a public place under the influence of alcohol, a controlled substance, other drugs or combination thereof and he or she is either endangering directly the safety of another person or of property, or is acting in a manner that causes a public disturbance.

O.  Commits the offense of window peeping.

P.  Vehicle sound equipment noise and vibration. It shall be unlawful for any person to be in possession or control of a parked or moving vehicle with a stereo, disc player, cassette player, speakers, or other similar equipment that is producing sound on a street, driveway, publicly patrolled parking lot or public place at or with a level, volume, intensity, frequency, or other attribute that is perceptible at a distance of 50 feet or more, either by hearing the sound by the human ear or by feeling the sound in the form of vibrations associated therewith. This subsection shall not be applicable to sound emanating from emergency vehicles, vending vehicles, or publicly sponsored or permitted concerts, sporting events, activities, or gatherings. A violation of this subsection is a civil infraction punishable by a fine of $100.

Q.  Loud vehicles. The operation of any automobile, truck, motorcycle or other vehicle so out of repair or so loaded or constructed as to cause loud and unnecessary grating, grinding, rattling or other unreasonable noise, including the noise resulting from exhaust, which is plainly audible at a distance of 50 feet from the vehicle and unreasonably disturbing to the quiet, comfort or repose of other persons. A violation of this subsection is a civil infraction punishable by a fine of $100.

Disorderly conduct can also be charged under state law. The Michigan Disorderly Conduct statute reads in pertinent part as follows:

750.167 Disorderly person

(1) A person is a disorderly person if the person is any of the following:

(a) A person of sufficient ability who refuses or neglects to support his or her family.

(b) A common prostitute.

(c) A window peeper.

(d) A person who engages in an illegal occupation or business.

(e) A person who is intoxicated in a public place and who is either endangering directly the safety of another person or of property or is acting in a manner that causes a public disturbance.

(f) A person who is engaged in indecent or obscene conduct in a public place.

(g) A vagrant.

(h) A person found begging in a public place.

(i) A person found loitering in a house of ill fame or prostitution or place where prostitution or lewdness is practiced, encouraged, or allowed.

(j) A person who knowingly loiters in or about a place where an illegal occupation or business is being conducted.

(k) A person who loiters in or about a police station, police headquarters building, county jail, hospital, court building, or other public building or place for the purpose of soliciting employment of legal services or the services of sureties upon criminal recognizances.

(l) A person who is found jostling or roughly crowding people unnecessarily in a public place.

44th District Court in Royal Oak

44th District Court is located at 400 E Eleven Mile Rd, Royal Oak, MI 48067 on the south side of 11 Mile Road just east of Main Street. The court telephone number is (248) 246-3600. The magistrate’s courtroom, clerk’s office and probation offices are located on the first floor. Judge Meinecke and Judge Wittenberg’s courtrooms are located on the second floor.

If you’ve been charged with a misdemeanor in 44th District Court, your case may be prosecuted under local city ordinance by the Royal Oak City Attorney’s Office or by the Oakland County Prosecutor’s Office. All state law felony charges in Royal Oak or Berkley are prosecuted by the Oakland County Prosecutor.

Disorderly Conduct Lawyers in Royal Oak

If you have been charged with Disorderly Conduct in the 44th District Court, call the Royal Oak Criminal Defense Lawyers at Jeffrey Buehner, PLLC. Jeffrey Buehner has practiced criminal law for over twenty-three years, both as an Oakland County assistant prosecutor and as a criminal defense lawyer. Mr. Buehner has decades of experience with 44th District Court, its prosecutors, judges and probation officers. If you’ve been charged with any type of crime in 44th District Court, Royal Oak criminal lawyer Jeffrey Buehner has the skills, experience and knowledge you need to protect your freedom and reputation.

If you or a loved one have been charged with any type of misdemeanor or felony charge in 44th District Court, put Michigan criminal lawyer Jeffrey Buehner’s criminal justice experience to work in your defense. Don’t settle for anything but the best: call (248) 865-9640 now.