In a Decision – State v Burkert (a New Jersey Supreme Court Case) >> the Court Held:
The free-speech guarantees of our Federal and State Constitutions safeguard not only polite and decorous conversation and debate but also speech that we hate. To ensure that N.J.S.A. 2C:33–4(c) does not exceed its constitutional reach in cases involving the prosecution of pure speech, repeated acts to “alarm” and “seriously annoy” must be read as encompassing only repeated communications directed at a person that reasonably put that person in fear for his safety or security or that intolerably interfere with that person's reasonable expectation of privacy.
The principals were correction officers who held different positions in different unions and who had a strained Burkert downloaded a wedding photograph of Halton and his wife that was posted on social media and then inscribed degrading and vile dialogue on copies of the photograph. Copies of those photographs were found strewn in the employee parking garage and locker room of the Union County Jail. Halton filed three complaints in municipal court charging Burkert with harassment.