Hauled Out Drunk

Police officers came to the Defendant's home and arrested him there. They then took him, in handcuffs, out onto a public highway. Once on the highway, the Defendant — who was intoxicated — used loud and profane language and behaved in a boisterous manner. He was charged under an Alabama statute making it a crime for any person who, while drunk or intoxicated, appears in a public place and manifests that condition by boisterous or indecent conduct or loud and profane discourse. He argued that he had not gone to the public highway of his own accord — the very officers who charged him had carried him there. The Prosecution pointed to the plain fact that he was drunk and disorderly in a public place, exactly what the statute forbids.