The Supreme Court docket on Friday introduced it might hear a problem over what is taken into account a “true menace” within the age of the web, weighing a case the place a person is in search of to overturn his legal conviction for stalking underneath Colorado’s state regulation as a result of his social media messages.
Billy Raymond Counterman is arguing his messages despatched by means of Fb to a Colorado musician are protected underneath the First Modification and shouldn’t be thought-about a “true menace.”
His lawsuit challenges his conviction underneath Colorado’s stalking regulation, which bans somebody from knowingly — and repeatedly — following or contacting one other particular person “in a fashion that may trigger an affordable particular person to undergo severe emotional misery.” He was sentenced to 4 and a half years in jail.
His attorneys mentioned totally different federal circuit courts and state courts have analyzed threats in another way, with some judges weighing how an affordable particular person would interpret a message whereas different jurisdictions have weighed what the speaker’s intent was when deciding if the speech is protected.
“These state-federal conflicts are significantly problematic as a result of they imply that audio system’ constitutional rights rely upon the courthouse wherein they’re prosecuted,” his attorneys mentioned of their submitting.
They urged the courtroom to evaluate the dispute and provides all courts steerage in the right way to interpret the First Modification and what’s thought-about a real menace.
The case arose when Counterman despatched messages to a Colorado musician in 2014 by means of social media. She didn’t reply to any of the messages.
A few of them learn: “5 years on Fb. Solely a pair bodily sightings,” “Was that you simply within the white Jeep?,” “”You’re not being good for human relations. Die. Don’t want you.”
She later contacted the police in 2016 after telling a member of the family the messages frightened her. She obtained a protecting order.
Counterman, although, was arrested for his messages and solely then was made conscious of the protecting order.
It took a minimum of 4 of the justices to vote in favor of reviewing his authorized battle.
The state of Colorado, although, had urged the courtroom to not hear the case, arguing in its submitting that Counterman had admitted to stalking the musician.
“It is a case about stalking and the steps taken by Colorado’s Normal Meeting crucial to guard victims from the intrusive, threatening, and escalating course of conduct attribute of stalking,” the state argued in its transient.
The case is Counterman v. Colorado.
