Harassment
Tex. Penal Code § 42.07. Harassment.
(2001)
(a)
A
person commits an offense if, with intent to harass, annoy, alarm, abuse,
torment, or embarrass another, he:
(1)
initiates communication by
telephone, in writing, or by electronic communication and in the course of the
communication makes a comment, request, suggestion, or proposal that is
obscene;
(2)
threatens, by telephone, in
writing, or by electronic communication, in a manner reasonably likely to
alarm the person receiving the threat, to inflict bodily injury on the person
or to commit a felony against the person, a member of his family or household,
or his property;
(3)
conveys, in a manner reasonably
likely to alarm the person receiving the report, a false report, which is
known by the conveyor to be false, that another person has suffered death or
serious bodily injury;
(4)
causes the telephone of another
to ring repeatedly or makes repeated telephone communications anonymously or
in a manner reasonably likely to harass, annoy, alarm, abuse, torment,
embarrass, or offend another;
(5)
makes
a telephone call and intentionally fails to hang up or disengage the
connection;
(6)
knowingly permits a telephone
under the person's control to be used by another to commit an offense under
this section; or
(7)
sends
repeated electronic communications in a manner reasonably likely to harass,
annoy, alarm, abuse, torment, embarrass, or offend
another.
(b)
In
this section:
(1)
"Electronic communication" means
a transfer of signs, signals, writing, images, sounds, data, or intelligence
of any nature transmitted in whole or in part by a wire, radio,
electromagnetic, photoelectronic, or photo-optical system. The term
includes:
(A)
a
communication initiated by electronic mail, instant message, network call, or
facsimile machine; and
(B)
a
communication made to a pager.
(2)
"Family" and "household" have
the meaning assigned by Chapter 71, Family Code.
(3)
"Obscene" means containing a
patently offensive description of or a solicitation to commit an ultimate sex
act, including sexual intercourse, masturbation, cunnilingus, fellatio, or
anilingus, or a description of an excretory function.
(c)
An
offense under this section is a Class B misdemeanor, except that the offense
is a Class A misdemeanor if the actor has previously been convicted under this
section.