U.S. Supreme Court to review Colorado social media stalking case involving Denver singer
The United States Supreme Court will review a Colorado criminal case in which a musician was hounded on social media. The case involves the Denver singer Coles Whalen and the unwanted attention she received.
That attention was from Billy Raymond Counterman. He was convicted in Arapahoe County of stalking Whalen and lost on appeal.
Court records state he sent her thousands of messages on Facebook.
"I've had tapped phone lines before. What do you fear?" Counterman asked. "I'm currently unsupervised. I know, it freaks me out too, but the possibilities are endless," he added.
Legal analyst Karen Steinhauser says the issue is how far can a threat go.
"Where do we draw the line specifically on social media with Facebook with everything? Where do we draw the line between what is protected First Amendment free speech versus where do we criminalize it?"
Whalen claimed she was stalked for six years by Counterman. He first contacted her after she performed at a 2010 gay pride festival in Denver with messages including her dying.
"The type of words, the type of speech that causes somebody to be concerned for their own personal safety," Steinhauser explained.
The nation's highest court has now agreed to take the case over to address the aspects of threatening language.
"We may not like it, we may feel it violates our personal space, but it's still protected First Amendment speech versus the speech that is intended to threaten somebody's safety," Steinhauser said.
