New York's Aggravated Harassment Statute Found Unconstitutional

This wikilog article is a draft, it was not published yet.

by: Ryan • May 15, 2014 • no comments

This comes by way of Volokh Conspiracy.

The statute and the holding of New York's highest court are as follows:

Penal Law § 240.30(1)(a) provides that “[a] person is guilty of aggravated harassment in the second degree when, with intent to harass, annoy, threaten or alarm another person, he or she … communicates with a person, anonymously or otherwise, by telephone, by telegraph, or by mail, or by transmitting or delivering any other form of written communication, in a manner likely to cause annoyance or alarm.” We agree with defendant that this statute is unconstitutionally vague and overbroad ….