MADISON, Wis. (AP) - The state Supreme Court says an attorney wasn’t ineffective because he chose not to argue in a child abuse case that a West Allis mother’s profane insults were free speech.
Ginger Breitzman was convicted in 2013 of abusing her son. One of the charges was disorderly conduct for calling her son profane names. Breitzman argued on appeal her attorney, Thomas McClure, was ineffective because he didn’t argue her profanity was free speech.
The Supreme Court ruled unanimously Friday that the attorney did nothing wrong. The court noted that it’s unclear whether profane conduct that provokes a disturbance is protected free speech and her profanity was punctuated by physical abuse and therefore her speech caused a disturbance.
Breitzman’s appellate attorney, Hannah Schieber Jurss, didn’t immediately respond to a voicemail.
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