Court Rules Whether Online Threats Sent to Someone Other Than the Victim Constitute Stalking
Case Alert
By Raymond Hill
Professor Emeritus, Santa Rosa Junior College
Facebook Posts Constitute Stalking When Reasonably Foreseeable that Victim Would Learn of the Posts
Facts: Over several years, the defendant made numerous public Facebook posts directed at harassing and threatening his former girlfriend and mother of his child.
In its opinion, the court published several pages outlining examples of the threatening language:
“You tell that bitch that if I don’t get to talk to my son, God is going to do something horrible to him.”
With pictures of convicted rapists and murderers Ted Bundy, Richard Ramirez and Richard Allen Davis, the defendant included captions “[Doe], I should sic them on you” and “I’m sorry for wishing death and rape on (Doe).”
“I hate you with all my heart (Doe).” “You fuckin whore.”
The defendant never directly sent these posts to the victim or to her own Facebook account. They remained publicly available, were viewed by others and screen shots were forwarded to the victim.
The defendant was convicted of stalking and sentenced to five years in CDC&R. His appeal was based on the argument that he never directly contacted or relayed any threat to the victim.
Ruling: The defendant’s actions constituted stalking. The requirement that a stalker’s conduct must constitute a “credible threat” and be “directed at a victim” (646.9(e) P.C.), was satisfied. The nature of the defendant’s posts constituted relevant evidence that it was reasonably foreseeable the victim would (and did) become aware of the vulgar, threatening and harassing posts.
Author’s Notes: This is the second stalking decision we have reported in the last several months. See Peo. v. Obermuller, LUPC Ref.#CAC00172 where a stalking conviction was upheld when threats were communicated to the victim’s family.
Also, in another recent decision [Peo. v. Tafoya (4DCA – 3/17/2025) 2025 WL 831158, 2-25 Cal. App. Lexis 161], the court ruled the defendant’s credible threats on Facebook sent from prison were not protected speech under the First Amendment and were part of a continuing five-year course of conduct. With other convictions, Tafoya is a guest of CDC&R for 25 years and eight months.
