{"data":{"id":"us-mt/45-8-116","jurisdiction":"us-mt","citation":"45-8-116","heading":"Funeral picketing -- penalties.","body":"(1) A person commits the offense of funeral picketing if the person knowingly engages in picketing within 1,500 feet of any property boundary entrance to or exit from a funeral site during the period from 1 hour before the scheduled commencement of the funeral services until 1 hour after the actual completion of the funeral services.\n(2) A person convicted of funeral picketing shall be fined an amount not less than $250 and not more than $1,000 or be imprisoned in the county jail for a term not to exceed 12 months, or both.\n(3) This section does not affect any proceeding against a person for violation of any other provision of law. A district court may enjoin conduct proscribed by this section.\n(4) In addition to, and not in lieu of, the penalties provided for in subsection (2), a district court may in a civil action award damages, including punitive damages, attorney fees, and other appropriate relief, to a person who suffers injury as a result of activity that may be a violation of this section.\n(5) As used in this section, the following definitions apply:\n(a) \"Funeral\" or \"funeral services\" means the ceremonies, rituals, and memorial services held in connection with the memorial of a deceased person or in connection with the burial, cremation, or other disposition of a human body, including the assembly and dispersal of the persons attending the funeral.\n(b) \"Funeral site\" means a church, synagogue, mosque, funeral home, mortuary, cemetery, gravesite, mausoleum, or other public or private place where a funeral is conducted.\n(c) \"Picketing\" means the making of any noise or diversion that can reasonably be expected to disturb a funeral by:\n(i) standing, sitting, or repeated walking, riding, driving, or other similar action by a person displaying or carrying a banner, placard, flag, sign, or similar device that is not a part of the funeral services;\n(ii) engaging, with or without the use of a sound amplification device, in loud oration, speech, singing, chanting, whistling, or yelling that is not part of the funeral services;\n(iii) distributing any handbill, pamphlet, leaflet, or other written or printed material other than written material that is distributed as part of the funeral services; or\n(iv) obstructing or preventing the intended uses of a public street, public sidewalk, or other public space.","path":["TITLE 45. CRIMES","CHAPTER 8. OFFENSES AGAINST PUBLIC ORDER","Part 1. Conduct Disruptive of Public Order"],"source_url":"https://mca.legmt.gov/bills/mca/title_0450/chapter_0080/part_0010/section_0160/0450-0080-0010-0160.html","current_through":"Montana Code Annotated 2025","vintage":"","retrieved_at":"2026-09-14T04:55:34Z","sha256":"34370768f5ccbdf8b6c4bfd91113ac0f567e72ff8b5d66d324e6cf1abb0e312b","source_id":"us-mt","stale":false,"prev":"us-mt/45-8-115","next":"us-mt/45-8-117"},"notice":"GroundRules: Original legal text. Not legal advice."}