State v. Heffron

[¶ 1] Despite being enjoined by a protection from abuse order from having direct or indirect contact with the person protected by that order, on his Facebook page Richard A. Heffron III published several posts-including threatening ones-directed at the protected person. Heffron was charged with violating the protection order (Class D), 19-A M.R.S. § 4011(1) (2017), and, after a jury-waived trial held in the Unified Criminal Docket (Sagadahoc County, Billings, J. ), he was convicted of the crime. Heffron appeals the conviction, asserting that his Facebook posts did not violate the protection…