Stalking in Louisiana: Laws, Penalties, and Defenses

Stalking laws in Louisiana make it a crime to intentionally and repeatedly follow or harass another person in a way that would alarm or emotionally distress a reasonable person, with mandatory jail time and fines even on a first conviction. The state also has a separate cyberstalking statute for threatening or harassing conduct carried out electronically. Victims can pursue protective orders, civil damages, and, in some situations, federal charges against the offender.

What Counts as Stalking Under Louisiana Law

Two elements have to line up for stalking. The behavior must be repeated — a single incident is not enough — and it must be the kind of conduct that would disturb a reasonable person rather than someone unusually sensitive.¹

“Harassing,” under the statute, is a repeated pattern of uninvited verbal or nonverbal behavior. That includes phone calls, electronic messages, letters, pictures, and messages relayed through a third party.² The law also covers uninvited appearances at a home, workplace, school, or any other location, especially when those appearances come with implied or direct threats of violence, kidnapping, or sexual assault.¹

The accused does not have to announce an intent to cause fear. Prosecutors can establish intent through the pattern of behavior itself. Someone who shows up at a workplace five times after being told to stop has demonstrated the required intent, whether or not any overtly threatening words were spoken.

Cyberstalking as a Separate Crime

Louisiana has a standalone cyberstalking statute aimed at conduct carried out through electronic means. It covers four categories of digital behavior:³

Using email or electronic communication to threaten physical harm to someone or their family, or to extort money or valuables.
Sending repeated electronic messages meant to threaten, terrify, or harass, whether or not the recipient responds.
Electronically sending false claims about someone’s death, injury, illness, or criminal conduct with intent to threaten or harass.
Knowingly letting someone else use your device or account to do any of the above.

Cyberstalking does not require physical proximity. A person who never leaves home can face charges based entirely on online conduct, and prosecutors sometimes stack stalking and cyberstalking counts when the behavior crosses both physical and digital channels.

Stalking Penalties

Louisiana’s penalty structure escalates hard based on the victim’s age and the offender’s history. The mandatory minimums matter: a judge cannot let a convicted stalker walk away with only a fine.

First Offense

A first stalking conviction carries a mandatory fine of $500 to $1,000 and a jail sentence of 30 days to one year.¹ Even the most lenient judge must impose at least $500 and 30 days. Courts can add probation, counseling, and restraining orders on top.

Victim Under 18

When the victim is under 18, a first conviction jumps to up to three years of imprisonment, with or without hard labor, and a fine of up to $2,000.¹ The shift from a misdemeanor-range sentence to possible hard labor reflects how the state treats stalking involving children.

Second Conviction Within Seven Years

A second stalking conviction within seven years of a prior one triggers felony consequences: imprisonment with or without hard labor for five to twenty years, without the possibility of probation, parole, or suspension of sentence, plus a fine of up to $5,000.⁴ The “no probation, no parole” language means the offender serves the full sentence.

Cyberstalking Penalty Tiers

Cyberstalking has its own ladder:³

First offense: fine up to $2,000 and up to one year in jail.
Second conviction within seven years: 180 days to three years in prison and a fine up to $5,000.
Third or subsequent conviction within seven years: two to five years in prison and a fine up to $5,000.

Protective Orders for Stalking Victims

A protective order is often the fastest way to put enforceable legal boundaries in place. Louisiana’s Protection from Abuse Act sets the framework, and the process moves quickly when danger is present.

Getting a Temporary Restraining Order

The victim files a petition in civil court. A judge can grant a temporary restraining order without the stalker being present or notified, based on the victim’s account alone. Once issued, the TRO must be served on the respondent within 24 hours, and a full hearing must be scheduled within 21 days.⁵ At the hearing, the victim must prove the allegations by a preponderance of the evidence — more likely than not.

What a Final Protective Order Can Do

If the judge grants a final protective order, the relief available goes well beyond a no-contact requirement. The court can order temporary child custody arrangements, require a mental health or medical evaluation of the offender, mandate counseling, and award temporary financial support if the offender has a duty to support the victim or the victim’s children.⁶

A final protective order lasts up to 18 months and can be extended after a hearing. The part of the order directing the offender to stop abusing or harassing the victim can be made indefinite, with no expiration date.⁶ Violating a protective order can lead to separate criminal charges with their own penalties.

Enforcement Across State Lines

A Louisiana protective order does not stop at the state border. Federal law requires every state to give full faith and credit to a protection order issued by another state, provided the issuing court had jurisdiction and the respondent got reasonable notice and a chance to be heard.⁷ If you have a Louisiana order and your stalker follows you to Texas, Texas police must enforce it as if a Texas court had issued it.

Crossing state lines to violate a protective order is also a separate federal offense. Traveling interstate with the intent to violate a protection order, and then doing so, opens the offender up to federal prosecution on top of state charges.⁸

When Federal Stalking Charges Apply

Most stalking cases run through state court. Federal charges enter the picture when the conduct crosses state lines or uses interstate communication tools. Federal law reaches two main scenarios:⁹

The stalker travels across state lines, enters or leaves Indian country, or acts within federal maritime or territorial jurisdiction, and engages in conduct that places the victim in reasonable fear of death or serious injury, or causes substantial emotional distress.
The stalker uses the mail, an internet service, or any other interstate commerce tool to carry out the same kind of threatening or distressing conduct.

Federal penalties climb with the harm caused. The baseline case with no physical injury carries up to five years. Serious bodily injury or use of a dangerous weapon raises the maximum to ten years. Permanent disfigurement or life-threatening injury pushes it to twenty. If the victim dies, the offender faces life in prison.¹⁰ Federal stalking committed while violating a protective order carries a mandatory minimum of one year.

Common Defenses to Stalking Charges

Stalking cases are harder to defend than many people expect. The reasonable-person standard shifts the focus from the specific victim to how an ordinary person would react. Still, a few defenses come up regularly.

Challenging Intent

Prosecutors must show the defendant intentionally engaged in the repeated behavior. Genuinely coincidental contact — two people who happen to frequent the same gym and grocery store — undercuts the intent element. Defendants can also argue they did not realize the contact was unwelcome, though that argument weakens fast once the victim has communicated that it is.

Disputing the Reasonable-Person Standard

The defense can argue the behavior would not alarm a reasonable person. A couple of friendly text messages, even if unwanted, usually do not clear the bar. This defense works best when the contact was mild and infrequent, and it collapses when the behavior includes showing up at someone’s home or workplace uninvited.

First Amendment Limits

Charges built heavily on words hit constitutional limits. In Counterman v. Colorado, the U.S. Supreme Court held that prosecutors must show the defendant had at least a reckless awareness that their statements could be perceived as threatening.¹¹ The “true threats” concept separates genuine expressions of intent to harm from jokes, hyperbole, or venting no reasonable person would take literally. Statements that were clearly rhetorical or taken out of context can support this defense, though the recklessness bar is not particularly high for the government to clear.

Alibi and Contradictory Evidence

Straightforward factual defenses can work: proving the defendant was somewhere else, or that the evidence was fabricated or misattributed. GPS data, timestamped receipts, and witness testimony all play roles. Digital evidence cuts both ways — it can convict a stalker, and it can also show the accused was not the person behind an anonymous account or spoofed number.

Civil Lawsuits for Damages

Criminal prosecution is not the only path. A stalking victim can file a civil lawsuit for monetary damages, and civil court uses the lower preponderance-of-the-evidence standard rather than the criminal beyond-a-reasonable-doubt standard. A victim can win a civil case even if the criminal prosecution fails or the district attorney declines to file charges.

Recoverable damages typically include the cost of security measures like new locks, cameras, or relocation; lost wages from missed work or a job loss caused by the stalking; counseling and therapy expenses; and compensation for emotional distress. Punitive damages, meant to punish rather than compensate, are also available in many cases.

Housing and Job Protections for Victims

Federal Housing Protections

Under the Violence Against Women Act, stalking victims in federally assisted housing cannot be denied admission, evicted, or terminated from housing assistance because of their status as a victim.¹² A stalking incident cannot be treated as a lease violation by the victim, and landlords cannot use criminal activity related to the stalking as grounds to terminate the victim’s tenancy when the tenant or a household member is the target.

Emergency transfers are also available. A victim who reasonably believes they face imminent harm by staying in their current unit can request a transfer to another available safe dwelling within the covered housing program, and the new location must be kept confidential from the stalker.¹² Housing authorities can also split a lease to remove an abuser without displacing the victim.

Leave From Work

Federal employees can take leave to attend court, obtain protective orders, secure new housing, or access victim services. Federal agencies are directed to grant leave without pay for these purposes even when the employee has paid leave available.¹³ If stalking produces a serious health condition like severe anxiety or PTSD, the employee may qualify for up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act. Many states have their own safe leave laws for private-sector employees, though coverage varies.

1
Louisiana Revised Statutes. Louisiana Revised Statutes RS 14:40.2 – Stalking
2
Louisiana State Legislature. Louisiana Revised Statutes RS 14:40.2 – Stalking
3
Louisiana State Legislature. Louisiana Revised Statutes RS 14:40.3 – Cyberstalking
4
FindLaw. Louisiana Revised Statutes Title 14 Section 40.2 – Stalking
5
FindLaw. Louisiana Revised Statutes Title 46 Section 2135 – Temporary Restraining Order
6
Louisiana State Legislature. Louisiana Revised Statutes RS 46:2136 – Protective Orders; Content; Modification; Duration
7
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 U.S. Code 2265 – Full Faith and Credit Given to Protection Orders
8
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 U.S. Code 2262 – Interstate Violation of Protection Order
9
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 U.S. Code 2261A – Stalking
10
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 2261 – Interstate Domestic Violence
11
Supreme Court of the United States. Counterman v. Colorado
12
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 34 USC 12491 – Housing Protections for Victims of Domestic Violence, Dating Violence, Sexual Assault, and Stalking
13
U.S. Office of Personnel Management. Fact Sheet: Time Off for Safe Leave Purposes