NOTICE: All slip opinions and orders are subject to formal
revision and are superseded by the advance sheets and bound
volumes of the Official Reports. If you find a typographical
error or other formal error, please notify the Reporter of
Decisions, Supreme Judicial Court, John Adams Courthouse, 1
Pemberton Square, Suite 2500, Boston, MA, 02108-1750; (617) 557-
1030; SJCReporter@sjc.state.ma.us
14-P-1408 Appeals Court
A.T. vs. C.R.
No. 14-P-1408.
Essex. June 3, 2015. - October 16, 2015.
Present: Cypher, Berry, Meade, Hanlon, & Blake, JJ.1
Civil Harassment. Harassment Prevention. Statute,
Construction. Intent. Evidence, Intent. Jurisdiction,
Juvenile Court. Juvenile Court, Jurisdiction.
Constitutional Law, Sentence, Cruel and unusual punishment.
Words, "Intimidation," "Threat."
Complaint for protection from harassment filed in the Essex
County Division of the Juvenile Court Department on May 23,
2014.
The case was heard by Garrett J. McManus, J., and a motion
for a new trial was considered by him.
Janice Bassil (John E. Oh with her) for the defendant.
Charlene A. Caldeira (Stephen MacKenzie with her) for the
plaintiff.
1
This case was initially heard by a panel comprised of
Justices Meade, Hanlon, and Blake. After circulation of the
opinion to the other justices of the Appeals Court, the panel
was expanded to include Justices Cypher and Berry. See Sciaba
Constr. Corp. v. Boston, 35 Mass. App. Ct. 181, 181 n.2 (1993).
2
HANLON, J. After a hearing, a judge of the Juvenile Court
extended a harassment prevention order against the juvenile
defendant. See G. L. c. 258E, §§ 2-4. The defendant appeals,
arguing, among other things, that the plaintiff did not present
sufficient evidence of harassment under the statute and that the
Legislature did not intend for the harassment prevention statute
to apply in circumstances such as these. We affirm.
Background. The judge stated at the beginning of the
hearing that he had reviewed the affidavit filed by the
plaintiff and her father at the time of an earlier, ex parte
hearing.2 G. L. c. 258E, § 5. He then heard testimony from both
the plaintiff and the defendant. He made it clear in his
findings that he found the plaintiff credible; the essential
underlying facts are not in dispute.
At the time of the incidents, the defendant was eleven
years old and in the sixth grade at a small private school;
there were only twelve students in his class, and the plaintiff
was one of them. The parties had been friends for two years and
had become "boyfriend and girlfriend" within the week preceding
the events at issue. On March 21, 2014, the defendant contacted
the plaintiff through a telephone video chat program called
2
See Frizado v. Frizado, 420 Mass. 592, 597 (1995) ("A
defendant or his counsel should be given adequate opportunity to
consider any affidavit filed in the proceeding on which the
judge intends to rely before being required to elect whether to
cross-examine the complainant or any other witness").
3
"FaceTime." The tone of the conversation initially was
friendly, but it changed when the defendant said to the
plaintiff, "Sometimes in math when I act like I'm staring at
nothing I'm actually staring at your big jugs of milk." This
made her "[s]ad and afraid," "angry," and "embarrassed," and she
hung up the telephone. In addition, she later learned that one
of the defendant's friends had been present with the defendant
during the conversation and that the friend had made a video
recording of it. The friend sent her the recording a short time
afterwards; she showed it to her mother, who immediately deleted
it.
The day after the conversation, when both parties were
walking back from physical education class, the defendant told
the plaintiff that, if she showed the video recording to anyone,
he would "make her life a living hell."3 The plaintiff testified
that she was then "very scared that [the defendant] was going to
do something."
The plaintiff also testified that, soon afterwards, while
the class was eating lunch in the school cafeteria, she heard
the defendant "telling his sexual fantasy about [her]." On
cross-examination, she clarified that the defendant's friend was
relating the defendant's fantasy, with the defendant
3
When he testified at the hearing, the defendant admitted
that he had made this statement.
4
interrupting and correcting him about details, "to make sure it
was correct because it was his fantasy." While she did not
remember details about the fantasy, she explicitly described it
as a "sexual fantasy" and agreed with her lawyer that "[i]t had
something to do with [her] body."4 "[A]lmost [their] whole
class" was seated around the table, and the "other kids [were]
overhearing and saying, 'Whoa.'"
Following these incidents, the parties' parents
communicated with each other, the school, and the local police
department. Unhappy with the school's proposed plan for the
situation, the defendant's parents voluntarily withdrew him from
school and homeschooled him for the remainder of the school
year. The defendant also sent, at his parents' request, a
letter of apology to the plaintiff and her parents.5
Afterwards, on May 21, 2014, the defendant attended a
school play with his mother; the plaintiff also attended, as did
her mother and sisters. After the play was over, all of the
students gathered outside and the defendant told one of the
plaintiff's friends that "he wanted to punch [the plaintiff] in
the titties." The friend repeated the statement to the
4
The plaintiff said, "I think it was like he had a party in
his basement, and I was a pizza delivery girl, and then we went
inside, but I don't remember." Later, she agreed with the
defendant's counsel that "[i]t was something that [she] didn't
like that had something to do with something sexual in nature."
5
The letter was not included in the record.
5
plaintiff, and then the defendant said it again, directly to the
plaintiff. She walked away and "ran to [her] mom, and [they]
drove home." At the hearing, the defendant admitted that he had
expected the plaintiff to hear what he said. The plaintiff also
testified that, on more than one occasion, the defendant
referred to her as ". . . bitch," a play on her name.6 This made
her "angry and mad, upset, afraid."
Two days later, the plaintiff applied for and received an
ex parte harassment prevention order against the defendant under
the civil statute, G. L. c. 258E, ordering him not to abuse,
harass, or contact her, and to remain away from her residence.7
On June 20, 2014, following an evidentiary hearing at which both
parties testified, the judge extended the order for one year.
In response, the defendant moved for a new trial and alternative
relief, supported by affidavits from his mother and rabbi. The
motion was denied without a hearing.8 This appeal followed.
6
The defendant admitted in his testimony that he had used
that name for the plaintiff.
7
On May 29, 2014, the judge extended the initial ex parte
order until June 20, 2014.
8
On July 28, 2014, following the denial of his motion for a
new trial, the defendant filed a motion with the single justice
of this court to stay or modify the order. After a hearing, the
single justice modified the order, in pertinent part, by
reducing the stay away order from one hundred yards to ten
yards, with additional provisions allowing the defendant to
attend school, as well as extracurricular, sporting, and
religious events, with certain limitations. On appeal, the
6
Discussion. In reviewing a civil harassment order under
G. L. c. 258E, we consider whether the judge could find, by a
preponderance of the evidence, together with all permissible
inferences, that the defendant committed "[three] or more acts
of willful and malicious conduct aimed at a specific person
committed with the intent to cause fear, intimidation, abuse or
damage to property and that [did] in fact cause fear,
intimidation, abuse or damage to property." G. L. c. 258E, § 1,
definition of "Harassment," inserted by St. 2010, § 23. See
O'Brien v. Borowski, 461 Mass. 415, 420 (2012) (O'Brien); Seney
v. Morhy, 467 Mass. 58, 60 (2014). The plaintiff bears the
burden of proving that each of the three qualifying acts was
maliciously intended, defined by G. L. c. 258E, § 1, as being
"characterized by cruelty, hostility or revenge," and that each
act was intended by the defendant to place the plaintiff in
"fear of physical harm or fear of physical damage to property."
O'Brien, supra at 427. In the determination of whether the
three acts "did in fact cause fear, intimidation, abuse or
damage to property," it is "the entire course of harassment,
rather than each individual act, that must cause fear or
intimidation." Id. at 426 n.8.
plaintiff does not challenge the amendments to the order made by
the single justice.
7
In finding sufficient evidence for the extension of the
order, the judge found that "there [were] clearly three distinct
acts of harassment. Additionally, the defendant's description
of his sexual fantasy regarding the plaintiff (with his friend's
. . . help) in the presence of the plaintiff and their other
classmates, as well as the defendant's name calling of the
plaintiff (. . . bitch), are indicative of a cumulative pattern
of harassment. It is entirely reasonable for the plaintiff to
fear continued acts of harassment at the hands of the defendant
without appropriate Court intervention." Specifically, the
judge noted the following three acts: (1) the sexual comment
made during the FaceTime video chat; (2) the threat to "make
your life a living hell" if she showed the video to anyone; and
(3) the expressed desire to punch the plaintiff in her breasts.
We agree that each of these was an act of harassment, and we
note that the public recounting of the sexual fantasy could
reasonably have been determined to be a fourth.
If the first incident, the FaceTime video with the sexually
explicit comment, had been an isolated one, and if it had
occurred in a private conversation between the parties, it is
unlikely that it would be seen as an act of harassment.
However, given that the comment was made in the presence of a
classmate, who was videotaping the conversation, it becomes
something very different -- a humiliating and intimidating
8
moment, capable of repetition on social media indefinitely, and
part of a larger pattern of harassment that continued in the
following days.
The threat to make the plaintiff's life a living hell
clearly was intimidation. The word "intimidation" has not been
addressed specifically in earlier harassment cases. However,
it appears in the statute and we note "the well-established rule
of statutory construction that 'none of the words [of the
statute . . .] should be regarded as superfluous.'" Lee v.
Board of Appeals of Harwich, 11 Mass. App. Ct. 148, 154 (1981),
quoting from Roblin Hope Indus., Inc. v. J.A. Sullivan Corp., 6
Mass. App. Ct. 481, 486 (1978). It is clear, therefore, that
"intimidation" has a meaning other than "fear" and should be
separately addressed. In so doing, the definitions supplied by
the courts in other contexts are useful. See Commonwealth v.
Gordon, 44 Mass. App. Ct. 233, 235 (1998) (Gordon) ("Webster's
Third New International Dictionary 1184 [3d ed. 1993] defines
intimidate as 'to make timid or fearful: inspire or affect with
fear'"). In Gordon, supra, quoting from Planned Parenthood
League, Inc. v. Blake, 417 Mass. 467, 474, cert. denied, 513
U.S. 868 (1994), we explained that, "[w]ithin the context of
G. L. c. 12, § 11H, the Massachusetts Civil Rights Act, our
Supreme Judicial Court has similarly defined the concept of
intimidation as 'putting in fear for the purpose of compelling
9
or deterring conduct.' . . . Neither definition includes the
requirement that to intimidate another, an individual must
somehow place that person in fear or apprehension of actual
harm."
In this case, however, the defendant's threat to make the
plaintiff's life a living hell also falls within the court's
definition of a "true threat" as described in O'Brien, 461 Mass.
at 424. Specifically, the court explained,
"A true threat does not require 'an explicit statement of
an intention to harm the victim as long as circumstances
support the victim's fearful or apprehensive response.'
[Commonwealth v. Chou, 433 Mass. 229,] 234 [(2001) (Chou)].
See United States v. Fulmer, 108 F.3d 1486, 1492 (1st Cir.
1997) ('use of ambiguous language does not preclude a
statement from being a threat'); United States v. Malik, 16
F.3d 45, 49 (2d Cir.), cert. denied, 513 U.S. 968 (1994)
('absence of explicitly threatening language does not
preclude the finding of a threat'). Nor need a true threat
threaten imminent harm; sexually explicit or aggressive
language 'directed at and received by an identified victim
may be threatening, notwithstanding the lack of evidence
that the threat will be immediately followed by actual
violence or the use of physical force.' Chou, supra at
235. See [Virginia v.] Black, [538 U.S. 343,] 359-360
[(2003)] (defining true threats without imminence
requirement); Doe v. Pulaski County Special Sch. Dist., 306
F.3d 616, 622 (8th Cir. 2002) ('serious expression of an
intent to cause a present or future harm' is true threat)."
The third act of harassment, a threat to punch the plaintiff in
the breasts, is clearly an act of harassment, and it is
significant in evaluating the pattern of harassment as a whole
that this third act took place after the defendant had sent the
plaintiff some kind of a letter of apology. Finally, the
10
cafeteria incident provides further evidence that the FaceTime
incident was not just a dumb remark by a clueless eleven year
old, but part of a pattern of conduct intended to isolate and
intimidate this eleven year old girl.
The "true threat" standard enunciated in O'Brien requires
that the plaintiff must have actually suffered fear, abuse,
intimidation, or damage to property. There is "no . . .
reasonable person element." O'Brien, 461 Mass. at 420. That
is, we do not ask whether a reasonable person would have been
afraid in these circumstances, but whether this plaintiff
actually was afraid and/or intimidated. Her testimony, credited
by the judge, was that she wanted the order extended "[b]ecause
without it, [she] [felt] unsafe and afraid of him." The
affidavit also recited that the plaintiff's father had "fear for
her safety from this boy."
In addition, "an essential element of civil harassment is
intent. . . . The conduct must have been intended to cause
. . . abuse . . ., intimidation, fear of personal injury, or
damage to property" (emphasis supplied). Seney v. Morhy, 467
Mass. at 63, quoting from O'Brien, 461 Mass. at 427. In most
cases, because it is impossible to look into someone's mind to
determine his intent, fact finders are instructed to examine the
defendant's actions and all of the surrounding circumstances and
then to draw reasonable inferences to determine what was the
11
defendant's intent. See, e.g., Commonwealth v. Blake, 409 Mass.
146, 150 (1991). In this case, the defendant's repeated and
escalating harassment of the plaintiff, each time involving
additional classmates, and then persisting after adult
intervention, would reasonably support an inference that he
intended to cause the plaintiff fear and intimidation.
However, there is no need to draw inferences here, because
the defendant said explicitly what his intent was -- to make the
plaintiff's life a living hell. He also explained, on more than
one occasion, his motive for doing so. The plaintiff's
affidavit recited that the defendant had told the plaintiff's
younger brother the night before the play that "he was 'fucking
with [the plaintiff]' because she ruined his life." The night
of the play, he told the plaintiff that he wanted to punch her
because "she ruined his life." Both of these statements support
the conclusion that the defendant, in fact, intended to cause
fear and intimidation and that he was motivated by hostility and
revenge. See O'Brien, 461 Mass. at 426 ("To establish
harassment, a [plaintiff] must prove that the defendant,
motivated by cruelty, hostility, or revenge, wilfully committed
three or more acts aimed at a specific person, each with the
intent to cause that person to experience fear or intimidation,
or to cause abuse or damage to property, which, considered
together, did in fact cause fear, intimidation, abuse, or damage
12
to property. G. L. c. 258E, § 1" [emphasis supplied]). The
elements of wilfulness, cruelty, and malice are further
illustrated by the defendant's repeated and public use of his
nickname for the plaintiff -- a play on her name ending in
"bitch."
The defendant argues that "[t]he facts presented to the
Court displayed the poor judgment of an eleven year old boy.
They did not meet the level of criminal harassment or stalking.
No delinquency charges were pursued." That argument simply
misapprehends the different standards and purposes behind G. L.
c. 258E, a statute providing for a civil order of protection,
and the laws labeling criminal behavior delinquent when
committed by a person under the age of eighteen.
The defendant's age, eleven, certainly is a factor in
determining his intent, but the Legislature provided
specifically for such a determination to be an informed one by
awarding to the Juvenile Court exclusive jurisdiction over G. L.
c. 258E orders directed at juveniles.9 G. L. c. 258E, § 2. As a
result, it is fair to conclude that, when the Legislature
deliberately entrusted to the trial court department most
9
In addition, when the Legislature changed the age for
determining who was a juvenile from under seventeen to under
eighteen, § 2 of the harassment order statute was amended to
reflect that change. See G. L. c. 258E, § 2, as amended by St.
2014, c. 284, § 74.
13
experienced with juveniles exclusive authority to issue
harassment orders against them, it had young people's
limitations and abilities particularly in mind.10 It also is a
fair inference that, had the members of the Legislature intended
to put eleven year olds beyond the reach of G. L. c. 258E, they
would have done so.11
The teaching of Miller v. Alabama, 132 S. Ct. 2455 (2012)
(Miller), cited by the dissent as instructive on the issue of
juvenile sentencing, does not assist this defendant. Miller was
a criminal case, in which the Court concluded that "mandatory
life without parole for those under the age of 18 at the time of
their crimes violates the Eighth Amendment's prohibition on
'cruel and unusual punishments.'" Id. at 2460. See Diatchenko
v. District Attorney for the Suffolk Dist., 466 Mass. 655, 658
(2013), where the Supreme Judicial Court, also relying upon art.
26 of the Massachusetts Declaration of Rights, came to the same
10
Contrast G. L. c. 209A, § 2, under which the Juvenile
Court Department has no authority to issue any such orders.
11
Compare G. L. c. 119, § 1, as appearing in St. 2008,
c. 176, § 82 ("a presumption of competency that a child who has
attained the age of 12 is able to offer statements on the
child's own behalf . . ."); G. L. c. 119, § 23(a), as appearing
in St. 2008, c. 176, § 83 ("the department may accept a child
. . . in need of foster care"; "child" defined by G. L. c. 119,
§ 21, as appearing in St. 2008, c. 176, § 83, as "a person under
the age of 18"); G. L. c. 119, § 52, as amended through St.
2013, c. 84, § 7 ("'Delinquent child', a child between seven and
18 . . ."; "'Youthful offender', a person who is subject to an
adult or juvenile sentence for having committed, while between
the ages of fourteen and 18 . . .").
14
conclusion. In a criminal case, the court has a
constitutionally imposed mandate to determine whether the
sentence violates the Eighth Amendment to the United States
Constitution and/or the Massachusetts Declaration of Rights.
However, even in the context of a criminal murder in the second
degree case, the Supreme Judicial Court recently refused to
extend the Miller/Diatchenko analysis, saying,
"although children may not have the maturity fully to
appreciate the consequences of wrongful actions, 'that does
not mean that a delinquent child lacks the ability to
formulate the specific intent to commit particular wrongful
acts.' Commonwealth v. Ogden O., 448 Mass. 798, 804
(2007). Where the Legislature has determined that a youth
is capable of committing certain crimes, we have noted that
'respect for the legislative process means that it is not
the province of the court to sit and weigh conflicting
evidence supporting or opposing a legislative enactment.'
[Citation omitted.] Here, . . . the Legislature has
clearly indicated that youth in the defendant's age group
are considered capable of committing murder, and the trial
judge was correct to preclude the defendant from putting
forward evidence that would have suggested it was
impossible for anyone the defendant's age to formulate the
necessary intent to commit this crime."
Commonwealth v. Okoro, 471 Mass. 51, 65 (2015) (upholding murder
in second degree conviction of fifteen year old juvenile). It
is not for this court to say that this eleven year old was
beyond the reach of the statute.
This is a civil case, interpreting a statute, G. L.
c. 258E, whose purpose is protective, not penal. The burden of
proof is "preponderance of the evidence," not proof beyond a
reasonable doubt. Frizado v. Frizado, 420 Mass. 592, 597
15
(1995). Iamele v. Asselin, 444 Mass. 734, 736 (2005). The
judge had an opportunity at the hearing to observe both the
plaintiff and the defendant, including their demeanor. He made
decisions about their credibility and issued this harassment
prevention order. A single justice of this court then reduced
the distance the defendant was required to stay away from the
plaintiff to ten yards.12 In our view, given all that has
occurred, this plaintiff is entitled to that order of protection
under G. L. c. 258E, commanding the defendant to stay that ten
yards away from her.
Harassment prevention order
as modified by single
justice of the Appeals
Court affirmed.
Order denying motion for new
trial affirmed.
12
The plaintiff does not challenge that reduction in this
court. See note 8, supra.
BLAKE, J. (dissenting, with whom Meade, J., joins). I
respectfully dissent. In my view, the evidence was insufficient
for the judge to issue a harassment protection order. In
reviewing a civil harassment order, we consider whether the
judge could find, by a preponderance of the evidence, together
with all permissible inferences, that the defendant committed
"[three] or more acts of willful and malicious conduct aimed at
a specific person committed with the intent to cause fear,
intimidation, abuse or damage to property and that [did] in fact
cause fear, intimidation, abuse or damage to property . . . ."
G. L. c. 258E, § 1, inserted by St. 2010, c. 23. See O'Brien v.
Borowski, 461 Mass. 415, 420 (2012); Seney v. Morhy, 467 Mass.
58, 60 (2014). The plaintiff bears the burden of proving that
each of the three qualifying acts was maliciously intended,
defined by G. L. c. 258E, § 1, as being "characterized by
cruelty, hostility or revenge," and that each act was intended
by the defendant to place the plaintiff in "fear of physical
harm or fear of physical damage to property" (emphasis
supplied). O'Brien v. Borowski, supra at 427.
A victim's response to the conduct in question is viewed
subjectively, as opposed to the reasonable person standard
articulated in the criminal harassment statute. Compare G. L.
c. 258E, § 1 (acts must "in fact cause fear, intimidation, abuse
or damage to property"), with G. L. c. 265, § 43A, as appearing
2
in St. 2010, c. 92, § 10 (pattern of conduct or series of acts
that seriously harms that person and "would cause a reasonable
person to suffer substantial emotional distress"). It is "the
entire course of harassment, rather than each individual act,
that must cause fear or intimidation." O’Brien, supra at 426
n.8.
In finding sufficient evidence for the extension of the
order, the judge relied on the following three acts: (1) the
sexualized comment made during the FaceTime video chat; (2) the
"make your life a living hell" threat; and (3) the expressed
desire to punch the plaintiff in her breasts.
As for the third act, I agree that the threat to punch the
plaintiff in the breasts meets the requirements of the statute,
as it is an unambiguous threat of violence. In contrast, the
remaining acts do not, in my view, overtly express or imply an
intent to physically harm the plaintiff. Apart from
embarrassing her and preventing her from sharing the recorded
video, any further, malicious intent is unclear without
testimony from the defendant about what he intended by his
actions and statements. No such testimony was elicited, apart
from the defendant's affirmations that he "just said things
without thinking" and "without any intention of carrying out any
of these things." Just as sparse is the record evidence of the
plaintiff's fear of physical harm, save that she was generally
3
angry, embarrassed, and afraid. Critically, nowhere in the
plaintiff's testimony did she articulate what she was afraid of,
and the evidence is not so strong as to permit that inference on
the record as it stands.
Equally important to the analysis is the fact that the
defendant was eleven years old and in the sixth grade when the
acts occurred. While the language of G. L. c. 258E does not
delineate between adult and juvenile defendants, with the
exception of jurisdiction, the age of the defendant cannot be
ignored. In the context of juvenile sentencing, the United
States Supreme Court has addressed the significant gaps between
juveniles and adults, noting that children have a "lack of
maturity and an underdeveloped sense of responsibility, leading
to recklessness, impulsivity, and heedless risk-taking" and that
"children are more vulnerable . . . to negative influences and
outside pressures, including from their family and peers . . ."
(quotations and citation omitted). Miller v. Alabama, 132
S. Ct. 2455, 2464 (2012) (Miller).1
1
The Supreme Judicial Court applied the rationale of Miller
in Diatchenko v. District Attorney for Suffolk Dist., 466 Mass.
655, 667-671 (2013) (Diatchenko I), again in the context of
sentencing, and has cited the same principles in Doe, Sex
Offender Registry Bd. No. 68549 v. Sex Offender Registry Bd.,
470 Mass. 102, 115 (2014) (registration of sex offenders), and
Diatchenko v. District Attorney for Suffolk Dist., 471 Mass. 12,
23 (2015) (Diatchenko II) (parole for juvenile offenders). See
Watts v. Commonwealth, 468 Mass. 49, 57 & n.13 (2014) (Watts).
4
The defendant's intent, beyond embarrassing the plaintiff
and sidestepping personal responsibility, is all the more
uncertain when applying the principles set forth in Miller and
its progeny. The nature of the defendant's actions and words
indeed display those traits described in Miller: lack of
maturity and sense of responsibility, leading to impulsive
behavior resulting in unintended consequences.2,3 The
defendant's lack of appreciation for and understanding of his
actions is especially apparent in the sophomoric words he used
(i.e., titties and jugs of milk) and the name he called the
plaintiff (". . . bitch").4
The plaintiff counters that the sexual nature of the
comments, when considered in the totality of the circumstances,
must have been intended to cause the plaintiff fear, or at
least, to be intimidated. Specifically, the plaintiff contends
the FaceTime incident, viewed in the context of the defendant's
2
The application of these principles is even more
compelling here, as the defendant was significantly younger at
the time of the conduct in question than the defendants in
Miller (fourteen), Diatchenko I (seventeen), and Watts
(seventeen). See Miller, 132 S. Ct. at 2461-2462; Diatchenko I,
466 Mass. at 656; Watts, 468 Mass. at 50.
3
When asked how he felt about what happened, the defendant
unconsciously admitted to being impulsive, stating that his
behavior "made me feel like it wasn't who I am. I would not do
that. Something just kind of took over me."
4
Notably, the judge considered the plaintiff's age and
maturity level in extending the order, but failed to address
these same considerations as they may apply to the defendant.
5
subsequent pronouncement that he would make the plaintiff's life
a living hell if she showed the video to anyone, is an act of
harassment. Even assuming, arguendo, that this "threat" is
sufficient to constitute an act of harassment, there remains a
question as to whether the defendant's prior, initial statement
was made with the intent to place the plaintiff "in fear of
physical harm or physical damage to property," O'Brien, 461
Mass. at 427, or was simply a statement of juvenile attempted
sexual bravado or offensiveness. There is, indeed, no evidence
that the initial statement was made with intent to place the
plaintiff in fear of physical harm, as O'Brien requires.
Moreover, the statute requires three acts. The plaintiff also
argues that the recitation of the defendant's fantasy is an act
of harassment. Again, without more detail about the defendant's
intent and the plaintiff's response, the evidence was
insufficient to conclude that this was an act of harassment.5
While the actions of the defendant cannot be condoned, and
the fear and embarrassment felt by the plaintiff are certainly
real and understandable, on this record the plaintiff has not
sustained her burden of proof. For these reasons, I dissent.
5
It is telling that neither party recalled the specifics of
the "pizza fantasy" during their testimony at the evidentiary
hearing.