Jacobs’ lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio, seeks damages, injunctive relief and other compensation.
“We are seeking compensation for our client and to vindicate for the rights of all Americans to engage in speech despite the fragility of others’ sensibilities,” said Matt Miller-Novak, an attorney for Jacobs. “After all, Justice Harlan said it best in Cohen v. California: ‘one man’s vulgarity is another man’s lyric.’ The government does not get to tell us what music we can listen to, and it does not get to dictate to us what words we choose to express ourselves, whether in protest, poetry, or performance.”
The Miami County commissioners office and sheriff’s office declined comment, citing potential ongoing litigation.
In a civil complaint, Jacobs says that on Nov. 7, 2023, his next door neighbors called police to complain about “rap” music that was playing at his home that they felt was “profane,” “racist” and contained “threatening lyrics.”
Jacobs said his son was playing music that contained some cuss words, but his son did not consider the songs to be vulgar, the civil complaint states.
Jacobs claims the area where he lives does not have a sound or noise ordinance, but deputies told him that playing music with profane and vulgar language was disorderly conduct, the lawsuit states.
Jacobs said he was issued a citation for a misdemeanor charge of disorderly conduct even though his son allegedly was playing this so-called “offensive” music.
Jacobs said, and Miami County Municipal Court records confirm, he was later acquitted of the charge in court.
His lawsuit says, “It is common sense that deputies cannot charge an adult for his son’s alleged disorderly conduct.
“Moreover, common knowledge should inform reasonable deputies that you cannot arrest people because they play a ‘rap’ song with the word (expletive) in the lyrics.”
Jacobs’ lawsuit names Miami County and deputies Dakota Brissett and Brad Blackburn as defendants.
The complaint claims the First Amendment prohibits the government from arresting and retaliating against people who play music that contains profanity. The complaint also states that Jacobs was criminally punished for his son’s actions.
A Miami County Sheriff’s Office report indicates that deputies in August 2022 responded after Jacobs’ neighbors complained about loud music coming from his property.
The responding deputy said there was no noise ordinance in the township but Jacobs said he would turn the music down.
The neighbor complained about loud noise coming from Jacobs’ home roughly a year later, in August of 2023, according to a sheriff’s report. They filed complaints with the sheriff’s office multiple times after that in subsequent months.
One of Jacobs’ neighbors filed a witness statement in September 2023 that said she went out for a walk and there was very loud music playing at Jacobs home that repeatedly used the f-word.
“These people have been told by us that we do not want to hear profanity in our yard,” the 58-year-old neighbor wrote. “This is a constant problem.”
A sheriff’s report says the neighbors and Jacobs had a mediation meeting with Sheriff Dave Duchak about the music dispute but the neighbors claimed things got worse after that. They said the situation was getting out of control.
Jacobs’ home is about 785 feet away from his neighbors’ home, according to sheriff’s deputies.
His neighbors told deputies that music playing from Jacobs home on Nov. 7, 2023, contained sexist and racist lyrics and talked about murder, according to sheriff’s report.
Deputies who responded said the music was playing at an “excessive level.”
A 65-year-old neighbor said he used his cell phone to determine that one song that was played was “One More Way 2 Die” by the rap group Do Or Die.
The songs has a variety of explicit lyrics.
According to information Jacobs’ neighbors provided to the sheriff’s office, songs they heard playing included “Taste” by Tyga; “Colioni” by OBAS.
Jacobs and his son said that day he was listening to music by Upchurch, who is often described as a country rap star.
Multiple friends of the neighbors, and other people who live nearby, told sheriff’s deputies that they can hear the music from their homes and the lyrics of the songs being played are vulgar and offensive. Multiple people said they believe the couple is being harassed.
Sheriff’s reports say Miami County municipal prosecutor Jared Chamberlain believed that playing music with “grossly abusive language” could meet the criteria for a disorderly conduct offense.
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