What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? New Mexico
I recently received a court summons for misdemeanor harassment charges. I'll do my best to keep this short and concise. If any other info is needed, I'm happy to oblige.
My ex-girlfriend has filed harassment charges against me. We have not been in physical contact in nearly a full year. There have been some text messages and a facebook incident. Petty, but I'm now forced to take this seriously. Up until this point, I have had a clean record. I have never been convicted of a violent crime. Once went to court for lack of car insurance in my early 20's.
To summarize, our split was not pretty. She left me with a huge rent bill, took the cats, the car, the friends. That's not the real issue, I know, but breakups are ugly and it seems to me it's fueling this recent event.
Roughly two months ago I started noticing some very unusual activity in my gmail accounts. Unfamiliar IP addresses (not trustworthy of location, I'm aware), devices that don't belong to me, mail in my trash bin that I did not put there such as facebook notifications of new devices entering my account. I started to screenshot and log, with date and timestamp, these events on a daily basis. After reviewing the devices that were accessing my gmail accounts I caught several instances of two devices that I absolutely know are hers being synced and accessing my accounts.
Then, feeling infuriated that she continues to be in my life and is invading my private emails, I send her the text message that has landed me here. The doom text message. I said, "F-off, you have no reason to be in my private emails. Stop being a creep." With the text I sent her screenshots portraying the two devices she owns had very recently accessed my gmail account again. One was a kindle fire hd 8.9 (I know because I rooted it for her, tinkered, played with it, and have photographic evidence of the tablet) and her other smartphone, a Galaxy S5 on T-Mobile. No response from her.
Then the court summons. In the statement she gave the police I'm not surprised she omitted anything that would tarnish her innocent, angelic character. What did surprise me is she outright lied. She states I was repeatedly posting pictures of us on facebook to harass her, she denies ever owning the devices, etc... it goes on. Essentially I felt harassed and had my privacy invaded, and a text message has given me the harassment charges.
The State of NM has since picked up the case and I filed for a PD today. I simply cannot afford anything else.
1. If I can prove without a doubt she had falsified statements, and that the "multiple offences" of my doing are fabricated, does that negate the basis of harassment?
2. Is there anything I can do to counter-charge her? I was the party who was initially harassed multiple times, and can prove it with time-stamped evidence. Would a counter-charge simply make matters worse? I feel the need to defend myself but could certainly do without another harassment charge.
3. Is there anything I can do aside from letting my PD take the case? I feel a bit helpless.
4. Am I just screwed? Will I have to live under the domestic violence umbrella for my entire life over a text message stating I was harassed initially? Credit? Home owning? Jobs? People here crash their cars into people houses. Aggravated DUI's everywhere, yet it gets cleared in 7 years from the incident.
5. Is this the most petty "he said, she said" case ever? To me, yes. To the state of NM, obviously not. It's even out of her hands at this point if she wants to drop charges. Sigh.
I'm completely lost here. I've never had to do this and it's frightening to lose my clean record, to be a domestic violence offender, and live in that shadow my entire life is.. depressing to say the least.
Please, even some kind words would make the difference. This is new to me and It's deeply concerning me. Thank you <3
I recently received a court summons for misdemeanor harassment charges. I'll do my best to keep this short and concise. If any other info is needed, I'm happy to oblige.
My ex-girlfriend has filed harassment charges against me. We have not been in physical contact in nearly a full year. There have been some text messages and a facebook incident. Petty, but I'm now forced to take this seriously. Up until this point, I have had a clean record. I have never been convicted of a violent crime. Once went to court for lack of car insurance in my early 20's.
To summarize, our split was not pretty. She left me with a huge rent bill, took the cats, the car, the friends. That's not the real issue, I know, but breakups are ugly and it seems to me it's fueling this recent event.
Roughly two months ago I started noticing some very unusual activity in my gmail accounts. Unfamiliar IP addresses (not trustworthy of location, I'm aware), devices that don't belong to me, mail in my trash bin that I did not put there such as facebook notifications of new devices entering my account. I started to screenshot and log, with date and timestamp, these events on a daily basis. After reviewing the devices that were accessing my gmail accounts I caught several instances of two devices that I absolutely know are hers being synced and accessing my accounts.
Then, feeling infuriated that she continues to be in my life and is invading my private emails, I send her the text message that has landed me here. The doom text message. I said, "F-off, you have no reason to be in my private emails. Stop being a creep." With the text I sent her screenshots portraying the two devices she owns had very recently accessed my gmail account again. One was a kindle fire hd 8.9 (I know because I rooted it for her, tinkered, played with it, and have photographic evidence of the tablet) and her other smartphone, a Galaxy S5 on T-Mobile. No response from her.
Then the court summons. In the statement she gave the police I'm not surprised she omitted anything that would tarnish her innocent, angelic character. What did surprise me is she outright lied. She states I was repeatedly posting pictures of us on facebook to harass her, she denies ever owning the devices, etc... it goes on. Essentially I felt harassed and had my privacy invaded, and a text message has given me the harassment charges.
The State of NM has since picked up the case and I filed for a PD today. I simply cannot afford anything else.
1. If I can prove without a doubt she had falsified statements, and that the "multiple offences" of my doing are fabricated, does that negate the basis of harassment?
2. Is there anything I can do to counter-charge her? I was the party who was initially harassed multiple times, and can prove it with time-stamped evidence. Would a counter-charge simply make matters worse? I feel the need to defend myself but could certainly do without another harassment charge.
3. Is there anything I can do aside from letting my PD take the case? I feel a bit helpless.
4. Am I just screwed? Will I have to live under the domestic violence umbrella for my entire life over a text message stating I was harassed initially? Credit? Home owning? Jobs? People here crash their cars into people houses. Aggravated DUI's everywhere, yet it gets cleared in 7 years from the incident.
5. Is this the most petty "he said, she said" case ever? To me, yes. To the state of NM, obviously not. It's even out of her hands at this point if she wants to drop charges. Sigh.
I'm completely lost here. I've never had to do this and it's frightening to lose my clean record, to be a domestic violence offender, and live in that shadow my entire life is.. depressing to say the least.
Please, even some kind words would make the difference. This is new to me and It's deeply concerning me. Thank you <3
