[litigant] who engages in some conduct that is clearly proscribed cannot complain
of the vagueness of the law as applied to the conduct of others.” Village of Hoffman
Estates, 455 U.S. at 494-95. “That rule makes no exception for conduct in the form
of speech.” Holder, 561 U.S. at 20 (citing Parker v. Levy, 417 U.S. 733, 755-57
(1974)). Therefore, the determination of whether a statute is unconstitutionally
vague must be decided based on the particular facts before the court. Id. at 18-19.
Even where a more stringent standard of vagueness applies, a litigant whose speech
is clearly proscribed cannot successfully assert a due process claim of vagueness
for lack of notice. Id. at 20. “And he certainly cannot do so based on the speech of
others.” Id. Accordingly, we address defendant’s claim that section 11-23.5(b) is
unconstitutionally vague on its face in relation to her conduct.
¶ 113
Defendant does not contend that section 11-23.5(b) contains insufficiently clear
standards for those who enforce it and may lead to arbitrary or discriminatory
enforcement. We therefore address only whether the statute provides fair warning
sufficient to avoid prosecution. Of critical importance to this inquiry is whether the
statute provides “people of ordinary intelligence a reasonable opportunity to
understand what conduct it prohibits so that one may act accordingly.” Wilson,
2012 IL 112026, ¶ 21 (citing Hill, 530 U.S. at 732, and Grayned, 408 U.S. at 10809).
¶ 114
Initially, defendant contends that section 11-23.5 is facially invalid as
unconstitutionally vague because the term “disseminate” is not defined in the
statute and does not expressly state to whom, when, where, or how the
dissemination must be accomplished. This contention is without merit.
¶ 115
In the absence of a statutory definition, courts presume that the words used in a
statute have their ordinary and popularly understood meanings. Anderson, 148 Ill.
2d at 28. The term “disseminate” is defined as “to foster general knowledge of.”
Webster’s Third New International Dictionary 656 (1993). In addition, its
synonyms include “BROADCAST,” “PUBLICIZE,” and “SPREAD.” Id. The
same dictionary defines “spread” as “to make more widely known.” Id. at 2208. In
this case, defendant sent a letter to at least one other person that included the private
sexual images of the victim without her consent. That conduct unquestionably
“foster[ed] general knowledge of” the victim’s image and made it “more widely
known.” Therefore, defendant’s conduct clearly fell within the statutory
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