Supreme Court rules for online stalker convicted of making ‘true threats’

The Supreme Court ruled Tuesday in favor of a Colorado man convicted of making “true threats” who repeatedly sent abusive messages to a local musician.

The court said Billy Counterman’s conviction for sending Facebook messages to singer-songwriter Coles Whalen was based on the wrong legal standard.

On a 7-2 vote, the justices ruled that the jury should have been required to make a finding about whether he intended his comments to be genuine threats. If such messages are not true threats, they are deemed protected speech under the Constitution’s First Amendment.

The case now returns to lower courts for further proceedings on whether the conviction should be thrown out.

“The state had to show only that a reasonable person would understand his statements as threats,” Justice Elena Kagan wrote for the majority. “It did not have to show any awareness on his part that the statements should be understood that way. For the reasons stated, that is a violation of the First Amendment.”

Read more: NBC News