Coles Whalen, an up-and-coming singer and songwriter, faced a dramatic upheaval in her life due to a stalker whose conviction was eventually nullified by the Supreme Court.
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — In recognition of National Stalking Awareness Month this January, First Coast News is shedding light on a case that profoundly affected a Jacksonville Beach musician, Coles Whalen, after a stalker drastically altered the course of her life.
“I feared for my life,” Whalen recounted. “We believed he was extremely dangerous, a view that was shared by many in law enforcement.”
Whalen’s promising music career abruptly halted after enduring years of harassment from a stalker. Although the man was initially convicted of stalking her in Colorado, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned that decision in June 2023.
The Supreme Court justices concluded that the man’s free speech rights were infringed, noting that prosecutors did not adequately demonstrate that he was aware his statements were perceived as threats.
Former federal prosecutor Curtis Fallgatter reviewed the implications of the Supreme Court’s ruling.
“I was very surprised to see the Supreme Court add a layer of protection for folks who threaten other people. That has not been the law for many, many years,” Fallgatter explained.
Fallgatter said the Supreme Court created a new standard when looking at crimes involving threats of violence. The states of Florida and Georgia both use an objective, reasonable person standard; the Supreme Court’s ruling changes that.
“Now, the prosecutor’s going to have to prove that I subjectively believe that my threats were going to be perceived by you as a threat. So it’s not just enough that you reasonably perceive them as a threat. Now they’ve got to go inside my mind as a defendant and prove that I intended it to be a threat,” Fallgatter said.
In their opinion, the Supreme Court Justices explained prosecutors should use a standard of recklessness, meaning, was the speaker aware that his statements could be seen as threatening and made those statements anyway?
Fallgatter said this could lead to other convictions being overturned and could create challenges for investigators moving forward.
Victim advocates told First Coast News this should not stop people from reaching out for help. Stephanie Brown is the Director of Community Education for Hubbard House, a domestic violence shelter in Jacksonville.
“There is a lot of co-occurrence between stalking and domestic violence,” Brown said.
Brown explained one common misconception about stalking is that if there is no physical contact, then it’s not dangerous.
“That is absolutely something that we work to demystify, because stalking can absolutely escalate to physical contact and violence. I mean, in all cases of stalking, there is emotional and psychological violence,” Brown said.
Whalen said her stalker sent her thousands of messages over the course of several years, and those messages got more threatening over time.
Brown said victims of stalking often feel like they have lost control of their lives because of their stalker. This was echoed by Whalen, who made the decision to step away from performing.
“It’s much more than a career that I feel like I lost. Performing was such a big part of my identity ,and I think it’s something that stalking victims and survivors rarely talk about. They lose so much, we lose so much when we’re a victim of this kind of crime,” Whalen said.
Brown said they often tell victims to trust their gut; if something seems off, they can reach out to Hubbard House and create a plan to get out of the situation.
“One of the things we’ll do is support the victim in what they want to accomplish, and so we will talk to a victim about the possible courses that they can take. We’re not going to give legal advice about whether they may or may not have a case. If they want to explore reaching out to police, then we’re absolutely going to support them through that process,” Brown said.
Hubbard House has a 24-hour hotline for anyone in need of resources. Call (904)-354-3114 or text (904)-210-3698.
