Convicted of harassing his lawyer

2023-09-20 16:49:35

A man has been convicted of harassing his lawyer. The client, “with the intention of disturbing and undermining the free professional activities” of the lawyer, made repeated and constant telephone calls. The professional, who was defending this person accused and finally convicted of a crime of computer fraud, received 11 calls from the defendant’s phone in a period of 20 minutesas well as more than 35 messages from WhatsApp.

These events, according to the ruling, caused a serious disturbance in the victim’s professional work, as well as an impact on her daily life because it was the first time that, in the performance of her profession, for thirty years, a client behaved that way towards him. Therefore, after finishing the professional meeting, the lawyer appeared before the Regional Police Commissioner to file a complaint against his client.

The Court of First Instance and Instruction number 2 of Tafalla convicted the man as the author of a minor crime of coercion, provided for and punished in article 172.3 of the Penal Code, to the penalty of a fine of 240 euros, as well as having to compensate the lawyer in the amount of 250 euros for moral damage. However, days after the ruling of the lower court ruling, a clarifying order was issued, in which the compensatory amount was modified, being finally it is 200 euros.

The judge rejected the written allegations of the accused who, trying to minimize his illegal actions, He excused it because of the anxiety generated by being accused and for this reason he behaved in an “impertinent and annoying” manner with the lawyer, “with no intention beyond that of checking how the various criminal proceedings were going, understanding that he does not deserve criminal reproach, there being no serious damage or any alteration of daily life of the actor.”

Lawyer and client (Photo: Freepik)

Defendant’s behavior exceeded professional relationship

The convicted person appealed against the court’s sentence, but The Provincial Court of Navarra has dismissed the appeal and confirmed the appealed rulingdeclaring its firmness.

The Provincial Court, just as the trial judge did, considers it proven that the conversations and calls from the complainant to the accused were repeated and insistent, “although this conduct does not offer an intensity, so that at the time it would be classified as a crimesince it can be said that it was of a minor nature, which is why a minor crime of coercion is appreciated.”

Well The conduct of the accused represents an interference with the freedom of the plaintiff in the exercise of his professional duties.“especially the day he filed a complaint with the Provincial Police after leaving the professional meeting in Peralta, due to the 13 insistent calls he received” and that disturbed his professional performance.

As stated in the appealed sentence,The violence required in the crime of coercion is not only physical violence, but also the compulsive violence aimed at coercing the recipient of the same.to attend to him imperatively at the request or demand of the accused, without taking into account, and against the will of the accused, which in the present case, in view of the repetition of the calls on the same day, exceeds what could be considered ordinary in the professional lawyer-client relationship.

As a consequence of the illicit behavior of the accused, the Chamber confirms the criminal reproach deserving of the person who was convicted in the instance as the author of a minor crime of coercion and, therefore, a creditor of the sentence imposed.