State v. Shackelford, ___ N.C. App. ___ (March 19, 2019)
Mar 19, 2019OUTCOME: The NC Court of Appeals vacated all four convictions after appeal.
Mr. Shackelford was indicted for eight counts of stalking. Four of the counts alleged felony stalking based on a prior stalking conviction in 1992. The other four alleged felony stalking based on viola ... tions of the no-contact order. At the close of all the evidence at trial, the trial judge dismissed the latter four counts based upon my argument that that the language in the no-contact order prohibiting Mr. Shackelford from posting about the alleged victim on social media was unconstitutional. The jury unfortunately convicted Mr. Shackelford of the remaining four counts. Mr. Shackelford appealed, alleging that prosecuting him for the content of his posts and emails violated his constitutional right to free speech.
