## Facts

- Thomas Gray, a member of Gideons International, participated in distributing Bibles near Key Largo School.
- Gray and others distributed Bibles on a public sidewalk within 500 feet of the school, an area covered by Florida’s School Safety Zone Statute, Fla. Stat. § 810.0975.
- The statute made it a misdemeanor to enter or remain in a school safety zone without “legitimate business” or other authorization, and criminalized refusal to leave upon a principal/designee request under specified conditions.
- The Gideons notified local police about their plans in advance and informed a school official shortly before distribution began.
- After distribution started, sheriff’s deputies arrested several participants and charged them under the statute.
- Gray stopped distributing Bibles and filed suit seeking declaratory and injunctive relief, alleging unconstitutional vagueness and overbreadth under the First and Fourteenth Amendments.

## Issues

1. Whether Fla. Stat. § 810.0975 is unconstitutionally vague because “legitimate business” is undefined, failing to provide fair notice and permitting arbitrary enforcement.
2. Whether the statute, as applied to Bible distribution on a public sidewalk near a school, impermissibly burdens protected speech in a traditional public forum.

## Decision

- The court granted Gray’s motion for summary judgment in part, holding that key provisions of Fla. Stat. § 810.0975 were void for vagueness.
- The court found the statute failed to give ordinary people adequate notice of what conduct was prohibited and encouraged arbitrary or discriminatory enforcement.
- The court enjoined enforcement of the challenged provisions as applied in circumstances like Gray’s peaceful sidewalk literature distribution near a school.
- The court granted Sheriff Roth’s motion for summary judgment in part on matters related to the claims and relief sought against him, while leaving the constitutional ruling against the statute in place.

## Legal Principles

- A criminal statute is void for vagueness if it fails to provide a person of ordinary intelligence fair notice of what is prohibited or if it authorizes or encourages arbitrary and discriminatory enforcement.
- When a vague criminal restriction affects expressive activity, constitutional concerns are heightened, particularly in a traditional public forum such as a public sidewalk.
- A statutory scheme that conditions lawful presence and speech on an undefined standard and broad discretionary judgments by officials increases the risk of viewpoint-based or ad hoc enforcement.

## Conclusion

The court ruled that Florida’s school safety zone statute, insofar as it relied on the undefined concept of “legitimate business” to criminalize presence within 500 feet of a school, was unconstitutionally vague and could not be enforced to arrest or deter peaceful religious literature distribution on a public sidewalk near a school.


Gray v. Kohl, 568 F. Supp. 2d 1378 (S.D. Fla. 2008)