CRIMINAL LAW & PROCEDURE, ELECTIONS

US v. Tobin, No. 06-1883 (1st Cir. March 21, 2007)
In a criminal case against the former New England Regional Director of the Republican National Committee arising out of an operation on election day 2002 to flood telephone numbers belonging to the Democratic Party and its supporters with hang-up calls, conviction and sentence on charges of telephone harassment are reversed and remanded where a jury instruction inappropriately broadened the scope of the statute with its definition of "intent to harass." The case is remanded to the district court for development of the intent issue, since a reasonable jury could have convicted defendant on the evidence unless it found that the statute required an explicit "purpose" of harassment, rather than a mere knowledge that harassment was likely to occur.
http://laws.lp.findlaw.com/1st/061883.html