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Gregory Alan Elliott was arrested in 2012 and charged with two counts of criminal harassment over his online interactions with two Toronto activists. Stephanie Guthrie and Heather Reilly had both blocked Elliott on the site — a move that prevents a user from viewing someone’s tweets when logged into the website — but they told police they felt he continued to track their movements and feared for their safety."
Throughout the trial, Elliott’s lawyer, Chris Murphy, argued Elliott was simply disagreeing with Guthrie and Reilly — both are advocates of women’s rights — and engaging in an ideological debate.
Elliott was arrested in November 2012 after months of escalation in his online interactions with Guthrie and Reilly. The pair had blocked him in August, but the court heard he continued to mention them in other tweets or comment on events or subject matter they were discussing on the social network. His defence argued the pair continued to “taunt” Elliott even after blocking him, and they wouldn’t have done so if they were genuinely afraid of him.
The Criminal Code defines criminal harassment, in part, as engaging “in conduct… that causes that other person reasonably, in all the circumstances, to fear for their safety or the safety of anyone known to them.”
One for the sanity column? Where do you stand?
4 comments:
The law in an of itself is insane and stupid. The fact that he was found not guilty may be a win for sanity, but the fact that it even went to trial just shows how utterly depraved laws like this are.
An absolutely no win situation for a male. I'm sure they did taunt him and then when he answered their taunts they claimed to feel threatened. Walk away, man.
if thine twitter offend thee, pluck it out. Sheesh.
The outcome probably explains ritmo's comfort in making threats. That and ritmo's inability to make rational arguments at any time.
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