COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – The Ohio Supreme Court has clarified the state’s stalking law, ruling that explicit threats are not required for a conviction.
Last week, the state’s highest court unanimously ruled that someone can be convicted of menacing by stalking under Ohio law without threatening their victim, having a prior relationship with them, or being directly told to stop.
The ruling stems from a case where a Montgomery County man, Dorian Crawl, was convicted of menacing by stalking for his conduct toward a woman he had gone to elementary school with, although the pair had never spoken in school, according to court records.
In May 2022, the woman posted a photo on Instagram for her 29th birthday, and Crawl commented, “Happy Birthday, baby girl. I love you. Hope we can see each other sometime soon,” the legal filing states. The woman did not respond.
Six days later, the woman posted a video on her Instagram account, and Crawl commented, “Where is this? Is this your house, boo?”
Less than one month later, Crawl appeared at the front door of her Dayton-area apartment. He knocked on her door, and when she asked who he was, he said he was her friend. He then tried to open the door by turning the knob, prompting the woman to quickly lock the door and hide her 9-year-old daughter in a closet before calling the police, court records say.
By the time police got to the scene, Crawl had left. An officer testified that when he arrived, the woman was visibly upset and crying. Crawl told the officer that he believed there was potential for a relationship with the woman and had found her address online.
“The officer noted that Crawl wanted to find out why [the woman] had not asked him to prom and why they had not been in a relationship,” the filing said.
While the officer warned Crawl against showing up at the woman’s residence uninvited again, Crawl continued to send her messages on social media.
The woman stated that the incident caused her anxiety and prompted her to install cameras around her apartment, ensure she was on the phone with someone when arriving home at night, have her boyfriend sleep over more, and look into moving, court records indicate.
In August 2022, Crawl was charged and found guilty of menacing by stalking, a first-degree misdemeanor. The offense is defined as engaging in a pattern of conduct that knowingly causes another person mental distress, or to believe the offender will cause physical harm to them or another household or family member. He was sentenced to two years of probation and ordered to pay $650 in fines.
Crawl fought the conviction in 2024, with a court of appeals agreeing with the lower court. He then took the case to the Ohio Supreme Court the same year, arguing that the state failed to prove that his actions were knowingly taken to cause the victim to feel threatened or to cause mental distress.
He asserted that the act of making nonthreatening comments on someone’s public social media, when there is no relationship between the two and the poster does not alert the commenter that she finds the comments threatening or unwanted, does not support a stalking conviction.
The Ohio Supreme Court disagreed, unanimously upholding Crawl’s conviction. The court said the woman was not required to block Crawl on social media or “affirmatively reject his advances.” Requiring this for a conviction would force victims to engage with their stalkers, who may be dangerous, according to the court.
The opinion states Crawl knew the woman did not want to be contacted by him after his conversation with the officer, yet he continued messaging her on social media. The justices ruled that the combination of Crawl’s inappropriate social media messages, uninvited visit and attempt to enter the woman’s home supported a conviction for menacing by stalking.
The justices determined that his actions formed a “pattern of conduct” that caused mental distress, “even if some of them, when viewed in isolation, do not seem threatening.”
