Student harassment case dropped

The case involving a student arrested for violating a restraining order was dismissed last week due to First Amendment concerns.

Pratt senior Albert Estok was taken to court last week for posting messages on DevilNet that his ex-girlfriend found threatening. A domestic violence protective order, issued against Estok in late February, specifically said he could not post on DevilNet if he referred to the victim.

But the judge dismissed the case after prosecutor Ashley Jenkins pointed out that Estok's postings to a DevilNet bulletin board were not specifically directed at the victim and that he is therefore protected from prosecution by the First Amendment. "If he made any threats, then I would do my best to do something about it," Jenkins said.

The restraining order is still in effect, but Lt. Sara-Jane Raines-the Campus Police officer working on the case-said that because the district attorney will not prosecute for non-specific postings, she will not try to obtain another warrant against Estok for doing so. "I think it is highly unlikely that someone will take out a warrant on that particular point [of the restraining order]," Raines said.

Raines added that because the case is in criminal court, the Trinity junior cannot appeal the district attorney's decision. "The victim doesn't have any rights in the criminal court system," Raines said. "All she can do is live with the decision."

Estok said he is still banned from Central Campus, where the victim lives, and the Alpine Atrium.

The victim, who was out of town Monday, dated Estok for a month and a half; their relationship ended in December 1998. The victim said earlier that Estok has been harassing her since then, and that it "has gotten progressively worse" this semester.

Estok, however, denies the victim's allegations. "I have called that girl once in the past year, sent maybe a half dozen e-mails after that phone call until she asked me to stop," he wrote in an e-mail. "At no point until she asked me to stop did she make me aware I was bothering her." He added that his postings to DevilNet, which is affiliated with The Chronicle, were not meant to be threatening and were instead designed to help him with "resolution of some thoughts."