Criminal Charges / Crimes

Although I am not an expert in your state and I can’t specifically talk about your state’s law, what this clause might generally mean is that someone’s behavior may not be harassment if the person had a proper, valid reason for his behavior. For example, if a person took a friend’s child to the park and said she’d be back in 15 minutes but she was still gone after 3 hours and the friend called her 20 times in the next 3 hours, this may be seen as a legitimate or valid purpose for her calls – she is worried about her child. These 20 calls then may not be harassment. But, let’s say that a boyfriend thinks his girlfriend is cheating on him and he calls her 20 times during the night to ask if there is a man there or to yell at her, and she tells him to stop calling and he still calls, perhaps these 20 calls may be more closely linked to harassment since he likely couldn’t prove that he had a legitimate purpose for calling (I am not sure if jealousy or suspicion could be considered “legitimate.”) Again, I can’t speak to your state’s law and how it is defined - these are only general examples that may or may not apply in some states. You may want to talk to a lawyer to see how this is defined in your state and in your specific situation. LINK