Brady Shackelford fell in love with “Mary,” a woman from his church. He did not make a good impression and she refused to go out with him. He sent her emails and letters but she was not interested. In fact, she told the minister to tell Mr. Shackelford to stop contacting her. He stopped contacting her but began waxing poetic on Google Plus about his broken heart and his frustrations that Mary didn’t return his undying affection. These unrequited love social media posts resulted in felony stalking charges because Mary claimed she felt “like she was being stalked” and obtained a “no contact” order to avoid him. The “no contact” order prohibited Mr. Shackelford from contacting Mary or posting any information about her on social media.
The NC. stalking law criminalized social media posts made on Mr. Shackelford’s own Google Plus account because the posts referenced Mary and the posts made her feel “harassed.” (N.C. Gen. Stat. § 14-277.3A)
The reason that the stalking law was ruled unconstitutional in Mr. Shackelford’s case was that the law as-applied to him criminalized his social media posts. This content-based speech while annoying was not threatening and could not be prohibited either by a no-contact order or by the stalking statute. It was his First Amendment right to speak about his broken heart as long as he just posted it on his own Google Plus page.
(In The Court of Appeals of North Carolina No. COA18-273 Filed: 19 March 2019 Mecklenburg County, Nos. 16 CRS 10028-30, 34, State of North Carolina v. Brady Lorenzo Shackelford)
