The Nevada crime of breaching / disturbing the peace occurs when you willfully disturb a person, family, or neighborhood by engaging in loud or offensive conduct. Breach of peace is a misdemeanor carrying up to six months in jail and/or $1,000.
The language of the code section states that:
NRS 203.010 – Breach of peace. Every person who shall maliciously and willfully disturb the peace or quiet of any neighborhood or person or family by loud or unusual noises, or by tumultuous and offensive conduct, threatening, traducing, quarreling, challenging to fight, or fighting, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.
In many cases, the prosecutor will drop breach of peace charges in exchange for a small fine.
In this article, our Las Vegas, Nevada criminal defense attorneys discuss the following “breach of peace” topics:
- 1. Elements
- 2. Penalties
- 3. Can the charge be dismissed?
- 4. Defenses
- 5. Record Seals
- 6. Immigration Consequences
- 7. Related Offenses
- Additional Reading
Disturbing the peace is a common charge in Nevada.
1. Elements
Disturbing the peace is a broad “catch-all” offense that comprises any loud or disruptive behavior, such as:
- conducting yourself in an offensive manner in public,
- making threats to someone at a bar,
- challenging someone to a fight, or
- stumbling around drunk on the street1
Location is an important component of whether you violate NRS 203.010. If you act rambunctiously in a park with children nearby, you are more likely to get cited than someone acting similarly at, for example, the Electric Daisy Carnival or Burning Man.
Also see our article, Legal remedies when neighbors play their music too loud in Las Vegas.
2. Penalties
As a misdemeanor, disturbing the peace carries a sentence of:
- up to 6 months in jail, and/or
- up to $1,000 in fines.2
In practice, however, the judge typically orders just a fine and rarely imposes incarceration. In some cases, the judge may agree to dismiss the charge completely.
Note that depending on the case, police may issue citations instead of arresting you. Citations are essentially treated the same as traffic tickets.
If you blow off the citation and fail to pay the fine or appear in court, the judge will issue a bench warrant for your arrest. If this happens, you can be arrested at any time and held without bail.
Plea Bargains
Because breach of the peace is a minor offense, many defense attorneys attempt to plea bargain more serious charges such as
down to a breach of peace. A breach of peace conviction does not look as bad to prospective employers as crimes that involve fighting or prostitution.
3. Can the charge be dismissed?
It is possible to dismiss a breach of peace charge, especially if you have no past criminal convictions. Nevada judges often agree to drop disturbing the peace charges if you pay a fine.
4. Defenses
Here at Las Vegas Defense Group, we have represented literally thousands of people charged with breaching the peace. In our experience, the following three defenses have proven very effective with judges and prosecutors at getting these charges dismissed.
You Engaged in No Willful and Malicious Conduct
An element of NRS 203.010 is that you acted willfully and maliciously. This is often a subjective standard that may be difficult for the prosecution to prove.
Perhaps you were just
- exercising your constitutional rights to free speech or protest or
- defending yourself.
Or perhaps you were suffering from a medical event such as seizures or diabetic comas where you had no control over your conduct.
Whatever the situation, you committed no crime and should not be convicted if the D.A. cannot prove you acted maliciously and willfully.
You Were Falsely Accused
It is not uncommon for people to falsely accuse others of criminal conduct out of
- anger,
- revenge, or a
- genuine misunderstanding.
Sometimes people even plant false evidence in an effort to incriminate someone else.
In circumstances like this, your criminal defense attorney would conduct a thorough investigation to unearth communications such as text messages or voicemails that could show that the accuser has a motivation to lie.
Your defense attorney would also try to find surveillance video that shows you did nothing wrong. As long as there is insufficient evidence to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, the charge should be dismissed.
You Were Misidentified
It may be difficult for the police to correctly identify which individual(s) are responsible for a brawl or disturbance, especially if there is a large crowd. Sometimes law enforcement arrests innocent people who were at the wrong place at the wrong time.
In these situations, your criminal defense attorney would search for any available surveillance video and eyewitnesses that could definitively show that you broke no law. Such evidence may convince the D.A. to drop the charges.
5. Record Seals
If you are convicted of violating NRS 203.010, you can petition the court for a record seal one year after the case ends. Note that the record seal process takes a few months to complete.3
If you get the “disturbing the peace” charge dismissed, then there is no waiting period to get a record seal: You can begin the process right away.4
A breach of peace conviction may be sealed one year after the case closes in Nevada.
6. Immigration Consequences
Violating NRS 203.010 is not a deportable offense. However, immigration law is constantly changing, and any immigrant charged with a crime is advised to seek legal counsel.
7. Related Offenses
Disorderly Conduct
Disorderly conduct is essentially the same offense as NRS 203.010. The only difference is that disorderly conduct is a county crime whereas a breach of peace is a state crime. They carry the same penalties.5
Trespass
Many trespass crimes occur when rowdy casino patrons refuse to leave a casino after they have been asked to leave. Like NRS 203.010, trespass is a misdemeanor carrying up to six months in jail and/or up to $1,000 in fines.6
Inciting a Breach of Peace
Provoking a breach comprises using
- words,
- signs,
- writing, or
- gestures
to incite others to breach the peace. It makes no difference if a riot never occurs.
Like NRS 203.010, inciting is a misdemeanor carrying up to six months in jail and/or up to $1,000 in fines.7
Additional Reading
For more in-depth information, refer to these scholarly articles:
- The Fighting Words Doctrine – Columbia Law Review.
- Fighting the Fighting Words Standard: A Call for Its Destruction – Rutgers Law Review.
- Disturbing the Peace – Central Law Journal.
- Civil Disturbances, Mass Processing and Misdemeanants: Rights, Remedies and Realities – The Journal of Criminal Law, Criminology, and Police Science.
- Disorderly Conduct Statutes in our Changing Society – William & Mary Law Review.
Legal References
- NRS 203.010; see also Wilmeth v. State, (1980) 96 Nev. 403; see also Paley v. Second Judicial Dist. Court of State, (2013) 129 Nev. 701.
- Id.; NRS 193.150.
- NRS 179.245.
- NRS 179.255.
- CCO 12.33.010.
- NRS 207.200.
- NRS 203.030; NRS 203.040.