In yesterday's decision by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals (written by Judge Mary Lou Keel) in Owens v. State , Owens had been found guilty of criminal harassment and sentenced "to 180 days in jail and a $500 fine"; the law outlaws "send[ing] repeated electronic communications in a manner reasonably likely to [and intended to] harass, annoy, alarm, abuse, torment, embarrass, or offend another." His conduct consisted of "sending about three dozen electronic messages to his former therapist [at her professional accounts] during a 15-week period," mostly via email but some via text and Facebook.

The court held this unconstitutionally punished Owens for his speech:

Sending messages is an act, but the messages themselves are speech, and the prosecution in this case was based on Appellant'

See Full Page