BUTLER TWP — Attorneys may have to dust off the old state crimes code manual in the coming days.

Chances are they’re in for an eye opener when the case of Christen A. Broad comes to court.

While most of the charges filed this week against the 28-year-old Butler woman accused of lying to police about a supposed protection from abuse order violation are straightforward, there is one alleged crime that stands out: barratry.

“I can’t recall it ever being used,” admitted Butler Township Police Chief John Hays, who has seemingly seen it all during his 37-year career in law enforcement.

Barratry is the act of repeated legal actions for the purpose of harassment.

Black’s Law Dictionary defines it as the “offense of frequently exciting and stirring up quarrels and suits, either at law or otherwise.”

Pennsylvania is one of only a handful of states that makes barratry a crime. Under the Pennsylvania Crime Code, a person is guilty of barratry if he vexes others with unjust and vexatious suits.

In the commonwealth, it’s a third-degree misdemeanor, punishable by a $2,000 fine or up to a year in jail.

Police allege Broad committed barratry Jan. 22 when she made a false claim against her former boyfriend, Lonnie Felix Jr., which led to his arrest for violating her PFA order.

Broad claimed Felix threatened to kill her in the parking lot of a restaurant off Route 8 north, according to court documents.

But while the investigating officer had Felix in custody, he learned that the 40-year-old Parker man had a rock-solid alibi — “he was nowhere near” the restaurant at the time of the purported threat.

A further police investigation would confirm Felix’s innocence.

He was released an hour after his arrest. Police, however, acknowledged that the undeserved time in custody caused Felix “unneeded distress.”

The officer eventually shared his findings with Broad, who stuck by her story, documents said.

Investigators believe otherwise and determined the defendant was “not truthful in her statements” to officers, a police report said.

On Wednesday, police charged her with unsworn falsification to authorities and false reports, both misdemeanors, and, of course, barratry.

Broad could not be reached for comment. It was not known if she has an attorney.

Meanwhile, just how infrequently someone in Pennsylvania is convicted of barratry is not known. But it’s rare. Very rare.

In a 1982 Pennsylvania Superior Court ruling that upheld the case against a Pittsburgh area woman, the court suggested she might have been the first person in the century convicted of barratry.

The charge against her stemmed from a heated custody battle and involved seven lawsuits she filed between 1976 and 1977 against her husband and his attorney.

Superior Court Judge John Hester, in his opinion, noted that he had trouble finding appellate court cases involving barratry. His research found only two such cases, both that were handed down in mid-19th century.

Butler attorney Armand Cingolani, who is not affiliated with the Butler Township case, said he has never heard of any case of barratry filed in the county.

He first became aware of the crime during his studies at law school.

“I hear people talk about it,” he said, “but it’s usually in the context of frivolous lawsuits.”

Cingolani conceded that prosecutors might have a difficult time proving Broad guilty of barratry.

“Unless she filed multiple actions against (the victim),” he said, “it might be hard to sustain that charge.

Hays said his department’s decision to bring the charge followed a review of the crimes code.

“The charge might not be used much but it’s in (the crimes code) for a reason,” he said, “In this case, it applied to what she did.”