COLUMBUS, Ohio – A Northeast Ohio appellate court reversed a conviction of a man convicted of harassing city employees in a vulgar rant after the city cut off his water.
Matthew Golga called the city of North Ridgeville eight times over 26 minutes after the city halted his water service for nonpayment. During the calls he screamed, cursed and demanded someone restore his water. An accounting clerk tried to help but ended several calls after he cursed at her as well, noting he has a child living with him. He eventually spoke with the city public utilities director, who came up with a plan to bring back his drinking water.
“[Y]ou can’t just be hanging up on people,” he said in a voicemail left with the city. “That’s f---ing bulls---. If you’re f---ing trying to kill me by turning my f---ing water off, then f--- you. And if you’d like me to come down to the f---ing thing, we can have a f---ing conversation, go f--- yourself! You think you’re f---ing bad? Yeah, f--- him. Let’s starve him out. Let’s f---ing kill ‘em all, right? F--- you!”
A trial court sentenced Golga to 180 days in jail for telecommunications harassment, with all but three of them suspended. But a split ruling Monday from the Ninth District Court of Appeals held that Golga had a legitimate purpose behind his calls and didn’t intend to harm anyone. It’s reasonable employees felt abused, Judge Jennifer Hensal wrote, but what matters is Golga didn’t call to bully municipal workers.
“Those are statements of one who is threatened, not one who is intentionally seeking to harass, intimidate, or abuse others,” she wrote.
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In a concurring opinion, Judge Donna Carr added that Golga’s statements were constitutionally protected speech.
“Courts should remain mindful that the First Amendment affords protections against laws which abridge the freedom of speech as well as the freedom to petition the government to redress grievances,” she said.
Judge Jill Flagg Lanzinger took a more sympathetic position toward the city in a dissent. She noted that even when an employee tried to assist Golga, he’d interrupt her, talk over her, and yell. She tried and failed to deescalate.
“The change in the tone and manner of his speech, combined with the frequency of his calls, evidenced a specific intent to abuse, intimidate, or harass the accounting clerk and the Public Utilities Director,” she wrote. “Both women described how Mr. Golga screamed at them, swore at them, and refused to listen to any of their efforts to aid him. The voicemail he left did not contain any pleas for aid or questions about the restoration of his service.”
Jake Zuckerman covers state politics and policy for Cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer.