Attorney for "Loud Music Cases" Comments on JSO Loud Music Enforcement Tweet About Revised Loud Music Law
Jacksonville Sheriff's Office's tweet:
On June 21, 2022, Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office posted the following on social media:
Lower your radio volume! Starting July 1, 2022, Florida State Statute 316.3045 will once again become enforceable. What does this mean? It means that you will have to listen to your radio at a volume that is NOT plainly audible at a distance of 25 feet or more.
The law:
The tweet refers to a new law, Section 316.1891, and the amendment of an existing law, Section 316.3045, Florida Statutes:
Operation of radios or other mechanical or electronic soundmaking devices or instruments in vehicles; exemptions.—
(1) A It is unlawful for any person operating or occupying a motor vehicle on a street or highway may not to operate or amplify the sound produced by a radio, tape player, compact disc player, portable music or video player, cellular telephone, tablet computer, laptop computer, stereo, television, musical instrument, or other mechanical or electronic soundmaking device or instrument, which sound emanates from within the motor vehicle, so that the sound is:
(a) Plainly audible at a distance of 25 feet or more from the motor vehicle; or
(b) Louder than necessary for the convenient hearing by persons inside the vehicle in areas adjoining private residences, churches, schools, or hospitals.
(2) The provisions of This section does shall not apply to a any law enforcement motor vehicle equipped with a any communication device necessary in the performance of law enforcement duties or to an any emergency vehicle equipped with a any communication device necessary in the performance of any emergency procedures.
(3) The provisions of this section do not apply to motor vehicles used for business or political purposes, which in the normal course of conducting such business use soundmaking devices. The provisions of this subsection shall not be deemed to prevent local authorities, with respect to streets and highways under their jurisdiction and within the reasonable exercise of the police power, from regulating the time and manner in which such business may be operated.
(3)(4) The provisions of This section does do not apply to the noise made by a horn or other warning device required or permitted by s. 316.271. The Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles shall adopt promulgate rules defining “plainly audible” and establish standards regarding how sound should be measured by law enforcement personnel who enforce the provisions of this section.
(4) This section does not prohibit a local authority from lawfully imposing more stringent regulations on sound produced by a radio or other mechanical or electronic soundmaking device or instrument as described in subsection (1), which sound emanates from a motor vehicle.
Attorney Comments:
“In addition to being irreconcilably vague, this law is ripe for racially biased enforcement,” Phillips said from his Jacksonville, Florida law office. “Further, the Florida Supreme Court has already been critical of the prior version of this law. It’s why JSO said ‘once again,’ as the prior version was held unconstitutional. It held 316.3045(1)(a) was invalid because it was an unreasonable restriction on the freedom of expression; (2) held that the statute was unconstitutionally overbroad, but not unconstitutionally vague; and (3) found that section 316.3045(3) was not severable from the remainder of the statute.”
Police officers aren’t constitutional scholars- far from. Making them enforce an illegal or poorly written law gives them a license to use it and abuse it. One of several concerns is police pulling over people of color for subjectively loud music and then finding evidence of other crimes or creating a confrontation that could end in tragedy- over music. The First Amendment doesn’t allow this restriction and the Florida Supreme Court has said it clearly.” See [ Ссылка ] for more information.
John Phillips represented the family of Jordan Davis, who was shot and killed at a Gate gas station over Michael Dunn’s demand he turn his music down. Phillips also represents the family of Greg Hill, a man shot and killed through his closed garage door by St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Officer responding to a call because he was playing Drake too loud in his garage. That civil wrongful death trial is set for next month in Ft. Pierce.
Contact:
John M. Phillips, B.C.S.**
Phillips & Hunt
(904) 444-4444
jmp@floridajustice.com
*Board Certified Specialist in Civil Trial Law by the Florida Bar
*Licensed to practice in Florida, New York, Georgia, Alabama, Texas, Oklahoma, Illinois and the District of Columbia
