Expert: Robin Sexton - 9/1/2009

Question
Hello, I live in Connecticut and my fiance has been charged with harassment in the second degree.  My issue is that I believe this charge to be bogus due to the fact that the plaintiff initiated the conflict and failed to do anything to resolve the situation.  The plaintive also had contacted my fiance in a harassing fashion the difference being that we never contacted the police but the plaintive did.  By the way this is all through email and myspace/facebook.  I guess the question is what kind of sentencing should we be looking at?  This is the first time she ever had anything like this happen and I am a little worried. Any help/ information you can give would be helpful.

Answer
Gerry,

Sorry about the problems your fiance is having.  This Internet harassment is a pretty new thing for the legal system to deal with.    With out knowing the specifics it is hard to comment on however in most jurisdictions this would be a pretty minor issue.  Unless there is some serious aggravating factors probation or a deferred type sentence is not out of the question.  Her concern is to minimize any mark on her permanent record.  Working for a deferred sentence or a plea taken under advisement would be a the goal, short of a dismissal.  If she still has the facebook / myspace posing she should retain those and not delete them from her page.  They can be given to the prosecutors office to show what is occurring.  A victim does not have to do anything to resolve a crime against them in US law and unfortunately the first one in the door to the police usually has a head start in these situations.  She may want to consult an attorney if she can not get the prosecutors office to negotiate and positive outcome for her.


good luck

robin