by KYW's Ian Bush
A Scranton, Pa. woman is in hot water for cursing -- in her own bathroom. Now, a judge will decide if the woman is guilty of disorderly conduct.
Attorney Barry Dyller says his client, 32-year-old Dawn Herb, just had it up to here:
"It's rather mundane -- we've all faced it in our lives. Her toilet was overflowing."
So, Dyller says, she let off some steam:
"She used the f-word."
But her neighbor, a Scranton cop, was in earshot. He says he asked Herb to tone it down and called a fellow officer when she cursed at him.
"It's important for police to know that they're not the language police."
But Dyller says for her speech to be criminal and not protected by the First Amendment, it would have to be obscene:
"That has to do with sexual language and not just a curse, which may offend someone, but we're allowed to engage in offensive speech."
There was nothing sexual about Herb's colorful speech, he says -- just an annoyed mother of four dealing with an uncooperative john.
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