Commonwealth v. Chou

The defendant, Peace Chou, was convicted of accosting or annoying a person of the opposite sex with offensive and disorderly acts or language. G. L. c. 272, § 53.1 On appeal he claims that the judge improperly denied his motion for a required finding of not guilty, arguing that (1) his language and conduct were not “disorderly”; (2) as applied, the annoying or accosting provision of § 53 criminalizes his speech in violation of his rights under the First Amendment to the United States Constitution and art. 16 of the Massachusetts Declaration of Rights, as amended by art. 77 of the Amendments…