Drivers Ticketed for Honking in Support of Occupy Seattle Will Have No Problem Getting Cases Tossed

The Seattle Police Department made news recently when officers decided to start ticketing drivers who honked their horns in support of the Occupy Seattle movement at Westlake Park. Seattle Municipal Code says that horns can only be honked for auto-safety purposes, and under that strict interpretation, multiple drivers were given $86 tickets.

What SPD might not have counted on, however, is a recent precedent-setting case decided by the state Supreme Court that will likely make all those tickets null and void.

In the case of State v. Immelt, which I reported on last week, Snohomish County resident Helen Immelt had been ticketed for exacting revenge on a hated neighbor by showing up at the neighbor's house regularly to lay on her horn.

Immelt fought the ticket on free-speech grounds and after the citation was upheld by a lower court, the Washington Supreme Court decided that the previous ruling was too broad and tossed the conviction, ruling that deciding where free speech ends and criminal noise-making begins is too vague for the courts to decide.

Seattle attorney Aaron Pelley says horn-hoking tickets should be easily dismissable.

Seattle attorney Aaron Pelley says that same ruling can now be used to have citations for Occupy-Seattle-based horn honking (if not any horn honking charge) thrown out.

"You can walk in, cite the case law from State v. Immelt, which says this is constitutionally-protected speech and move for a dismissal," Pelley says. "In fighting these cases I would have made a safety argument, but I'm happy to make the Immelt argument."

Pelley says he is representing clients pro bono on cases that involve Occupy-related horn-honking citations.

But even without a lawyer, the Immelt precedent should make it easy for anyone with such a ticket to have it quickly tossed.