Hi! i live in NC and i am 17 years old. Me and this girl (also a minor but im not sure the age) have had some bad feelings towards one another and she has been sending me very hateful texts after i ask her to stop several times and verbally threatining me. i commented on a photo on instagram of her (posted by someone else with 3 other girls in the picture) by saying very rude things about her body, however i did not use her name or tag her. it was not directly to her either and the comments have been deleted by me however she is threatening to press charges on me for harassment. what can i do? can i press charges on her for harassment? will the charges stick? and what will happen if she decides to then press charges on me for the instagram thing?
I doubt the authorities would want to become involved in your disagreement. Generally, the authorities will not become involved in an internet dispute unless there is a credible threat of bodily harm. They will tell you it is a civil matter.
If you or her want to sue the other party, you will probably need to hire a lawyer. This will cost many thousands of dollars.
I suggest that you disengage from any communication with the other party, and block them on your sites and phone. Engaging in conversation will only add fuel to the fire. Don't poke the bear, just walk away and leave it alone.
Martha BradleyCar / Auto Accident LawyerWaynesville, NC ·
The best and cheapest choice for you is to stop communicating with this person completely and move on with your life. Involving the criminal justice system in this dispute will not improve your situation, and may expose you to criminal charges, which would certainly hurt your reputation and your future. As for the legal aspects of your situation, under current North Carolina law, both of you are old enough to be charged and prosecuted as adults if any criminal charges were filed. This means that any convictions would be public record, and North Carolina law does not make getting criminal conviction removed from your record easy. Second, at least two criminal statutes could apply based on what you've described: telephonic harassment and cyber-bullying. I've attached links to these statutes. Both of these offenses are punishable as misdemeanors, which means the punishment could include a fine, community service, probation, jail time, or a combination. Third, it is unlikely that a law enforcement agency would pursue charges against her in this situation. However, if you are committed to having her charged, you can go to your local magistrate and have charges issued that way. Keep in mind that she is able to do the same thing. At that point, it would be up to the District Attorney's Office to prosecute, and most DAs send cases like this to a mediation program or dismiss the charges.
Ok, you've asked a series of questions, and I'll do my best to answer them all.
1) She can charge you for the instagram post. (Whether you would be convicted is another matter, but for the purpose of charging the answer is yes) A North Carolina crime called cyberstalking is defined as using an electronic device to harass someone. (It is technically more complicated than that, but for the sake of simplicity here that is how I am going to define it. If you want a more thorough definition, you should schedule a consult with a local attorney) Any private citizen can go and take a warrant for cyberstalking at the magistrate's office. And the magistrate generally will issue a warrant if someone comes and swears that they are the victim of a crime.
2) Yes, you can charge her as well with harassing phone calls or cyberstalking by going to the magistrate and swearing out a warrant.
3) As to the question of whether the charges will stick, that is a more complicated question. For the moment though, let's assume that you both charge each other. Now each of you will be arrested, if either of you has been charged with cyberstalking, you will have to have your DNA taken and sent to the SBI, and you will be scheduled for court. Once in court and you realize you are facing a criminal conviction you each might want to drop the charges. The ADA is not going to like this because of all the time and expense that has gone into your case already; so the ADA might refuse to drop the charges or might make each of you pay the court costs for your charge.
Ultimately, the best thing here is to simply stop communicating with this other girl. If she continues to text you after you ask her to stop, then block her. Do not allow her comments/texts/etc to cause you to do something (like comment on an instagram photo) that can get you in trouble. The best thing to do is walk away.
You also implied that you are curious about your age issue. Once a person is 16 in North Carolina, the court system treats that person as an adult. So if you are charged, it would be as an adult and it would remain on your record. So once again, the best advice I can give is to stay out of court and stay away from each other.
