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Text Messages Lead to Threatening and Intimidating Charges in Mesa

Can A Person Really Be Charged With Threatening and Intimidating

Believe it or not, it is against the law to verbally threaten or intimidate someone.  Arizona law criminalizes language that threatens bodily harm or damage to another’s property.  Language like this is not protected free speech.  In most cases, threatening and intimidating is classified as a class 1 misdemeanor, but there are some cases where it can be classified as a class 6 felony.

Types of Cases Our Lawyers See

It is very common for our office to represent people who text or leave a voicemail for an ex-girlfriend or boyfriend’s current partner that is threatening or intimidating.  While, in my opinion, they are generally empty threats said in the heat of passion or while intoxicated, the alleged victim in these cases can report the message to the police and have the person who said, or texted the message, charged with threatening and intimidating.  I don’t necessarily agree with this charge, being that I have never personally represented a client who I felt would follow through with what they said, Arizona court’s will move forward with prosecution without taking into consideration the context of the “threat”.

What You Can Expect Our Lawyers To Do

Threatening and intimidating is a type of charge that needs to be handled by an attorney who will take the time to get to know their client. This is important because the judge and prosecutor need to hear the background story of the text. For example, did your ex-girlfriend’s new boyfriend threaten you first?  Were you defending yourself? Are you an all-around good person who had a slip of the tongue? This is where our lawyers shine. We care about our clients and welcome as many meetings and phone calls as our clients would like to have.

What We’ve Done in the Past for Threatening and Intimidating Clients

The reason why I’m writing this blog is because we achieved a tremendous outcome for a client this morning who was charged with threatening and intimidating out of the Mesa Municipal Court. My client is a nurse who called her friend while in the bathroom to vent about one of her co-workers. Unfortunately for our client, there was another co-worker in the bathroom stall who reported her to HR. My client is a mother of four with absolutely zero criminal history. There was no way she posed any harm to her co-worker.  She was simply venting to a friend over the phone. This entire conversation was taken out of context and, in my opinion, she should never have been charged.

In any event, she was charged by the Mesa Prosecutor’s Office.  As mentioned, our tactic was to get to know as much as we possibly could about our client and present to the judge and prosecutor why this very minor incident was any reflection of who she really was.  Needless to say, our strategy proved successful.  Client left the courtroom happy.  When clients are happy, so are we.

If you are facing a threatening and intimidating charge, let’s talk about how we can help you.  We’ve helped thousands of people and can help you, too.  Please call us for a free case evaluation, 602-960-1731.

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