Leah Moone v. State of Indiana

Indiana Court of Appeals·Decided January 29, 2025·No. 23A-CR-03050·Published

Opinion

IN THE

Court of Appeals of Indiana FILED

Leah Moone, Jan 29 2025, 8:59 am

Appellant-Defendant CLERK Indiana Supreme Court

Court of Appeals

and Tax Court

v.

State of Indiana,

Appellee-Plaintiff

January 29, 2025

Court of Appeals Case No.

23A-CR-3050

Appeal from the Marion Superior Court The Honorable Jennifer P. Harrison, Judge Trial Court Cause No.

49D20-2302-F5-3317

Opinion by Judge May

Judges Brown and Pyle concur.

May, Judge.

[1] Leah Moone appeals her convictions of Level 5 felony stalking 1 and Class A misdemeanor invasion of privacy. 2 She raises several issues for our review, which we consolidate and restate as:

1. Whether the State presented insufficient evidence to support Moone’s Level 5 felony stalking conviction because:

1.1 Moone’s statements to R.M. were constitutionally protected speech; and

1.2 she did not know her communications would cause a reasonable person to feel terrorized, frightened, intimidated, or threatened; and

2. Whether the State presented insufficient evidence to support Moone’s conviction of invasion of privacy.

We affirm.

Facts and Procedural History [2] In August 2022, Moone began working with Helping Veterans and Families

(“HVAF”), a “local nonprofit that serves veterans and families facing homelessness.” (Tr. Vol. II at 74.) Moone began working at HVAF as an intern, and HVAF later hired her for a full-time position as a community center specialist. Early in her employment with HVAF, Moone met R.M., a program

1 Ind. Code § 35-45-10-5(b)(3).

2 Ind. Code § 35-46-1-15.1(a)(5).

coordinator at HVAF. Moone and R.M. discussed Moone’s education and “issues that [Moone] was having with coworkers[.]” (Id. at 84.)

[3] In early December 2022, Moone came to R.M.’s office and “verbally expressed” her romantic interest in him. (Id.) R.M. told Moone he was not interested in pursuing a romantic relationship with her because he preferred to “separate [his] personal and professional lives[.]” (Id.) Approximately twenty minutes later, Moone sent R.M. an email summarizing their conversation and “that the proverbial ball was in [his] court to make a decision if [he] wanted to pursue any kind of romantic relationship at that point.” (Id. at 85.) R.M. did not initiate a romantic relationship with Moone and they continued to have a professional relationship. At some point, R.M. gave Moone his personal email address “for [him] to be able to send links to things that would help her with her schooling” and “for her to kind of discuss some of the issues that she was having at work.” (Id. at 86.)

[4] At some point during her employment at HVAF, Moone filed several grievances with human resources in which she alleged “[t]heft, discrimination, harm to veteran clientele, and veteran employees, as well as unsafe working conditions.” (Id. at 120.) Moone saw herself as a “whistleblower[.]” (Id.) Moone and HVAF’s CEO E.H. met with human resources, and Moone then withdrew her complaints. In December 2022, Moone began having disagreements regarding programming with E.H. because E.H. would not allow Moone to conduct a research project regarding cultural competency at HVAF. In late December, Moone was fired from HVAF because she “created a hostile work environment with several colleagues.” (Id. at 77.) After she was fired, Moone began sending emails 3 to R.M. 4

[5] On January 19, 2023, under cause number 49D24-2301-F6-1754 (“F6-1754”), the State charged Moone with two counts of Level 6 felony intimidation and eight counts of Class A misdemeanor invasion of privacy based on alleged actions in early January against E.H. and R.M. 5 After those charges were filed, the trial court in F6-1754 issued a no contact order that prohibited Moone from having any contact with R.M. or E.H.

[6] On January 29, 2023, Moone sent thirty emails to R.M.’s personal email address. R.M. did not respond. These emails included links to pornographic videos, voice messages, video recordings, and nude pictures of Moone. In one email Moone stated, “[t]he prison door is open, and it’s your choice when you want to walk out!” (Ex. Vol. I at 8.) Moone believed she could see the predictive text for an anticipated reply from R.M. in which R.M. stated “I’m going to see you soon” though no such reply materialized. (Id. at 15.) In another email Moone told R.M., “I can’t stop because you don’t let go of who you love. No matter how crazy we look or feel. . . . [w]e’re stuck together. And no matter what I say, I’ll never stop sending you letters from home.” (Ex.

3 The record does not contain copies of these emails.

4 R.M. testified he never responded to any of Moone’s emails, but it is unclear from the context of his testimony whether he was talking only about the emails that are the subject of the case appealed herein or also about all emails sent after Moone was fired from HVAF. 5 The record does not disclose the alleged actions that prompted these charges.

Court of Appeals of Indiana | Opinion 23A-CR-3050| January 29, 2025 Page 4 of 18

Vol. II at 15.) Finally, Moone sent R.M. an email that said “I have mean weird thoughts with you. This was Monday. Good thing I didn’t send [it] or I’d have been like WELP THIS IS WHY IM IN JAIL[.]” (Id. at 9) (errors and emphasis in original).

[7] On January 30, 2023, and January 31, 2023, Moone sent thirty-four additional emails to R.M. These emails included sexually explicit language and links to pornographic websites. In one email, Moone stated: “I want to make you a dad. . . . I can’t wait. No matter what we’ll have kids together.” (Ex. Vol. III at 7.) In another, she wrote: “Don’t be scared. I’ll never leave you.” (Ex. Vol. IV at 4.) On February 2, 2023, Moone posted a message on social media website LinkedIn that stated: “No matter how bad things become, or how lost, sick, or wounded a woman is, a man never leaves her. Not if he loves her. [R.M.] will never leave me. He loves me. He’ll lie, cheat, give false testimony, kill or die for her.” (Id. at 15.)

[8] After the email about what Moone believed was R.M.’s predictive text saying he would see her soon, 6 R.M. became “very, very worried and concerned [about] when [Moone might try to visit him], where that would occur, things like that.” (Tr. Vol. II at 89.) Regarding the email about Moone having thoughts about doing something that would cause her to go to jail, R.M. was

6 Moone also believed R.M. was an FBI agent who was surreptitiously communicating with her about an investigation he was allegedly engaged in to expose corruption at HVAF. R.M. testified he was not an FBI agent.

Court of Appeals of Indiana | Opinion 23A-CR-3050| January 29, 2025 Page 5 of 18 frightened about “whatever this mean weird thought would be.” (Id.) After Moone sent an email with an audio recording of a sexual nature, R.M. felt “intimidated” because he “[didn’t] know what length somebody would go when they have obsessive thoughts like that[.]” (Id. at 90-1.) Moone’s emails made R.M. feel “[c]oncerned, worried, intimidated, . . . [and] terrorized simply because of the nature of what – it’s the persistent obsessive behaviors and actions when there was no response from me.” (Id. at 96.) R.M. was “really concerned about where this can go . . . [i]f a court order isn’t good enough, I don’t know what is at this point.” (Id. at 96.) Moone started “looking over [his] shoulder more so than normal” and wearing a wedding ring despite not being married. (Id.) He considered installing a home security system and called the police to his home multiple times because of security concerns.

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