Appeals court upholds Indiana's man stalking conviction

MUNCIE, Ind. (AP) - Indiana's appeals court has upheld a man's conviction for stalking a woman so relentlessly the judge who sentenced him called the stalking's impact on the victim 'œdamaging and life-altering.'ť

In a 3-0 opinion issued this past week, the appeals court rejected Joel E. Taylor's claim that there was insufficient evidence to support his felony stalking conviction.

Judge Elaine Brown wrote that the evidence was sufficient for a Delaware County judge to conclude that Taylor's actions caused his victim 'œto feel terrorized, frightened, intimidated, or threatened."

Taylor, 44, was sentenced in June to the maximum 30 months in prison for stalking the woman, whom he had once dated. Delaware Circuit Court Judge Marianne Vorhees called his actions 'œdamaging and life-altering" to the victim.

Delaware County prosecutors said Taylor had violated a protective order when he sent the woman scores of e-mails and messages in 2017 and 2018.

Some of those messages were sent from prisons in Arizona, where Taylor was incarcerated, and at least two of them included photos of his genitalia, the Star Press reported.

Taylor also created more than 70 Facebook accounts in his efforts to send the woman additional messages, according to court documents. He was arrested when he showed up at the woman's home in July 2018.