An appeals court has upheld the 2016 conviction of a Massachusetts man found guilty of cyberstalking a teenage girl from New Hampshire.
David Ackell, of Seekonk, was sentenced last year to 33 months in prison. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit in Boston recently affirmed his conviction for using facilities in interstate commerce to stalk the 16-year-old girl.
Prosecutors said Ackell solicited her through social media and coerced her into sending him explicit photographs of herself. When the girl wanted to end the relationship, Ackell threatened to harm her by making the images public.
Ackell's lawyers argued that the federal stalking statute was a violation of the freedom of speech under the First Amendment and that the evidence present by the government was insufficient.
