Obscene, threatening or harassing telephone calls are a crime in Oklahoma. If you are found guilty of placing a telephone call that falls within this category, you will need an experienced Wagoner criminal defense lawyer to represent you in court. It may seem like an innocent prank; however, making obscene, threatening or harassing telephone calls in Wagoner is a serious crime that the state will prosecute to the fullest extent of the law.
What Constitutes Obscenity, Threats or Harassment by Telephone?
Obscene, threatening and harassing telephone calls are defined under the Oklahoma Criminal Statutes. According to Okla. Stat. tit. 21 §1172, an obscene telephone call would be defined as a person making any “comment, request, suggestion, or proposal which is obscene, lewd, lascivious, filthy, or indecent.”
The same statute defines threatening or harassing telephone call as any communication with the intent to “terrify, intimidate or harass, or threaten to inflict injury or physical harm to any person or property of that person” or the caller has the intent to “put the party called in fear of physical harm or death.”
Harassing telephone calls are also defined by statute as any telephone call that is made without disclosing the identity of the person making the telephone call with the intent to “annoy, abuse, threaten, or harass any person at the called number.” An experienced Wagoner misdemeanor attorney can explain in further detail what exact language would fall within each of these statutory categories.
What Elements Must the State Prove to Find You Guilty of Obscene, Threatening or Harassing Calls?
Because you may be facing a felony charge if you are convicted of multiple charges under the obscene, threatening or harassing electronic communications statute, you should contact a Wagoner felony defense attorney as soon as possible after you are charged with a crime. An experienced Oklahoma felony attorney is skilled at creating reasonable doubt on one or more of the elements that the state must prove for a guilty verdict.
The first and second elements are the same for each of the various offenses under the obscenity, threats or harassment by telephone statute. The communication must be willfully made using a form of electronic communication (i.e. a telephone). For the third element, if the state proves any one of the following beyond a reasonable doubt, you will be found guilty of the charge:
- Making a comment, request, suggestion or proposal that is obscene. A comment is obscene if 1) the average person applying contemporary community standards would find that the comment, taken as a whole, appeals to the prurient interest, 2) it depicts or describes sexual conduct in a patently offensive way, and 3) taken as a whole, it lacks serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value;
- Making the telephone call to terrify, intimidate, harass or threaten to inflict injury to any person or the person’s property;
- Making the telephone call with the intent to put the person in fear of death or physical injury; or,
- Making a telephone call without disclosing your identity with the intent to annoy, abuse, threaten or harass the person you called.
Because there are several ways to raise the issue of reasonable doubt, you need an attorney with experience in defending Wagoner misdemeanor and felony charges to help you present a strong defense.
Initial Strategy Session: Wagoner Criminal Defense Attorney
For a low-cost consultation with a Wagoner, Oklahoma criminal defense lawyer, call Wirth Law Office – Wagoner at (918) 485-0335 (or toll free at (888) Wirth-Law). Or, as always, you may enter a legal question in the form at the top right of this page.
