Rush, J.
The United States and Indiana constitutions afford sweeping protections to speech about public officials or issues of public or general concern, even if the speech is intemperate or caustic. But there is no such protection for “true threats”—including veiled or implied threats, when the totality of the circumstances shows that they were intended to put the victims in fear for their safety. Fear for one’s reputation is often the price of being a public figure, or of involvement in public issues. But fear for one’s safety is not.
Here, the Court of Appeals failed to distinguish between those two types of fear. Many of Defendant’s statements, at least when viewed in isolation, threatened only to harm the victims’ reputations—hyperbolically accusing them of “child abuse” and the like. To the extent those statements were aimed at a public official or involved an issue of public concern, they are subject to the steep constitutional “actual malice” standard for defamatory speech, and the Court of Appeals erred in relying on them to support Defendant’s convictions for intimidating a judge and attempted obstruction of justice.
But Defendant’s other statements and conduct, understood in their full context, clearly were meant to imply credible threats to the victims’ safety. The “true threat” inquiry requires reference to all the contextual factors—one of which is the anger and obsessiveness demonstrated even by the protected portions of Defendant’s speech. And Defendant had also demonstrated mental disturbance, volatility, violence, and genuine dangerousness directly to both of his victims during his years-long vendetta against them. In that context, Defendant’s conduct, including showing his victims against a backdrop of obsessive and volatile behavior that he knew where they lived, was clearly intended to place them in fear—not fear of merely being ridiculed, but fear for their homes and safety, the essence of an unprotected “true threat.” Causing that fear is unlawful in itself, and all the more damaging when, as here, it aims to interfere with these victims’ lawful obligations of being a neutral judicial officer or a truthful witness—both of which are at the core of our justice system.
And the failure of the jury instructions and general verdict to distinguish between protected speech and unprotected true threats did not prejudice Defendant’s substantial rights here. To the contrary, we conclude that he deliberately invited that error, because requesting only broad-brush free-speech instructions enabled a broad-brush defense—emphasizing the protected, “political protest” aspects of his speech that threatened only the victims’ reputations, while glossing over his statements and conduct that gave rise to more sinister implications for their safety. That approach was constitutionally imprecise, but pragmatically solid—and nothing suggests that counsel blundered into it by ignorance, rather than consciously choosing it as well-informed strategy. It was an invited error, not fundamental error or ineffective assistance of trial counsel.
We therefore grant transfer and affirm Defendant’s convictions for intimidation of a judge and attempted obstruction of justice. On all other counts, we summarily affirm the Court of Appeals.
. . . .
1. The Judge
An objectively reasonable person in the Judge’s situation would recognize Defendant’s statements as threatening, and the Judge was amply reasonable to perceive them as such. First, reasonable people would take into account their own knowledge about the person making threats against them to determine whether they should take the threats seriously. And in doing so, they would reasonably consider how Defendant’s rhetoric had escalated: When relatively mild criticism and relatively straightforward motions failed to accomplish his goals, he progressed into angry (albeit protected) hyperbole about “child abuse” and judicial corruption; then into ominous invective about being an “accomplished pyromaniac” for whom the divorce and custody dispute was like “gas and fire,” Ex. 140 (Decree, Finding 8(O)); then into increasingly irrational, paranoid, and personal accusations of corruption, mail fraud, and RICO conspiracies by anyone he perceived as an adversary, e.g., Ex. 208; then to declaring himself a “martyr,” Ex. 148 at Ex. A at 4, and a victim of “horrendous crimes,” Ex. 142 at 10; and repeatedly vowing to “hold accountable” his perceived adversaries, e.g., Exs. 67, 148 at 10, 160 at 8, 181 at 2. Defendant’s long-running angry criticism, even the portion that is protected speech, remains relevant as part of that larger contextual consideration—both as part of the pattern of escalation, and because reasonable people necessarily take an ambiguous threat more seriously when it comes from someone who holds a longstanding grudge.
Reasonable people in the Judge’s situation would also view Defendant’s erratic, volatile, and violent courtroom behavior—“yell[ing] out things,” “thr[owing] his papers” and shouting “I demand justice in this courtroom,” and “laughing inappropriately,” Tr. 319—as part of that pattern of escalation. As the Judge described that behavior:
I’ve never seen anything quite like it in all my years of practice and as a Judge. It was . . . constant rehashing of this almost obsession with Dr. Connor . . . , I recall specifically at the end of that hearing, I had to threaten Mr. Brewington with contempt of court because of him slamming things on the table . . . .
Tr. 224. Indeed, the Judge “threatened [Defendant] with contempt multiple times and . . . had a police officer in the courtroom behind him during the entire proceedings”—the first time he had ever felt such precautions necessary in a divorce final hearing. Tr. 237–38. And reasonable people would, just as the Judge did, consider Defendant’s demonstrated obsessiveness as part of the context of his increasingly hostile and menacing words and actions—and would consider the Doctor’s professional opinion that Defendant “is potentially dangerous given his profile and behavior thus far,” Ex. 132 at 7—as evidence that the threat of violence was serious.
In sum, a reasonable person similarly situated to the Judge would be wary of Defendant’s demonstrated obsessiveness, mental disturbance, and instability; his veiled references to pyro-mania and weapons training; his pattern of escalating rhetoric and increasingly personal attacks; and his volatile and violent in-court behavior. And any lingering doubt as to whether the threat was worth taking seriously was erased when Defendant publicized the Judge’s home address. In the context of his other behavior, that additional step completed a true threat by implying to any objectively reasonable person that Defendant intended to menace the Judge not just in the courtroom, but in his living room as well. That perception is further borne out by the Judge’s subjective reaction—having an old firearm repaired to have at the ready, installing a home security system, requesting additional police patrols in his neighborhood, notifying security at his son’s college, and arranging police escorts for his wife’s commute to work. Tr. 252–55. Those are not the actions of a person who merely fears being exposed to criticism or ridicule; they are the actions of a person who fears for his family’s physical safety—and in view of what the Judge knew about Defendant, we find his fear was objectively reasonable. Defendant’s actions toward the Judge therefore constituted a “true threat” beyond the scope of free-speech protection.
2. The Doctor
Likewise, a reasonable person similarly situated to the Doctor would also be amply justified in perceiving Defendant’s behavior as a threat to physical safety. Defendant exhibited an even longer-running campaign of obsessive and escalating behavior towards the Doctor than towards the Judge. Even his initial, seemingly innocent requests for a copy of the Doctor’s file were preceded by a threatening anonymous letter that is highly consistent with Defendant’s writing style. Ex. 33. When those requests failed to accomplish Defendant’s goal, he quickly escalated first to threats (sometimes several per day) of pursuing professional discipline, of civil contempt and lawsuits against the Doctor, of lawsuits against the Doctor’s business partners and employees, and of criminal prosecution. See generally Exs. 38–42, 44–45, 48–51. When those efforts also proved fruitless, Defendant began obsessively gathering and publishing personal information about the Doctor—his father, Ex. 193; his civic pursuits, Exs. 179, 197; his involvement in other cases, Ex. 169; and eventually even a private family photo, Tr. 201, Ex. 201—and sustained that campaign for several years. Despite their disconcerting extent and duration, those acts standing alone might arguably constitute no more than “criminal defamation” protected as free speech under Bandido’s absent a showing of actual malice.
But reasonable people in the Doctor’s situation would not view those acts in a vacuum. Just as with the Judge, Defendant’s statements—even the ones that were protected speech—demonstrate an anger and obsessiveness that bears on how seriously a reasonable person would take an otherwise ambiguous threat. Reasonable people would consider that anger and obsession in light of the psychometric test results indicating that Defendant suffers “a degree of psychological disturbance that is concerning,” Ex. 9 at 28—thus implying in turn that Defendant is unstable and dangerous. Therefore, as with the Judge, what might otherwise have been merely distasteful, hyperbolic criticism took on genuinely threatening implications when Defendant announced that he knew where the Doctor lived, Ex. 199 at 1–2—and even more so when, a few months later, Defendant followed the Doctor to another hearing in an unrelated case, Ex. 200; and still more so when a few months after that, Defendant publicized a private family photo of the Doctor, Ex. 201. Those additional steps would imply to any reasonable person that Defendant was not merely angry, and not merely threatening to expose what he perceived as corruption or cronyism—but rather, that he intended to make the Doctor fear for his physical safety wherever he went, whether at his office, in the witness stand, or at his home. In fact, that was exactly how the Doctor explained his fear, testifying that “with nothing else around [the statements] . . . I would maybe see it differently[,] but it’s the accumulation of these types of comments and events” that he, “as a person who deals with aggressive people, . . . found . . . to be disturbing.” Tr. 189–90. And consistent with that reasonable perception, the Doctor’s family sought additional police patrols and discussed Defendant’s threats with their children and co-workers—while keeping those threats secret from elderly family members who would be worried. Tr. 159–66, 203–04. Their reactions are precisely what we would expect of objectively reasonable people under similar circumstances—that, faced with statements and conduct Defendant intended to be threatening, they did in fact feel threatened and fearful for their family’s safety. That is the essence of a “true threat” to which the United States and Indiana Constitutions accord no free-speech protection.
. . . .
It is every American’s constitutional right to criticize, even ridicule, judges and other participants in the judicial system—and those targets must bear that burden as the price of free public discourse. But that right does not permit threats against the safety and security of any American, even public officials, regardless of whether those threats are accompanied by some protected criti-cism. Defendant’s true threats against the Judge and the Doctor therefore find no refuge in free speech protections. To the contrary, they undermine the core values of judicial neutrality and truthful witness testimony on which every aggrieved citizen depends.
There would be no doubt about that conclusion if Defendant, all in a single episode, had violently shouted and slammed piles of books in the courtroom, shaken his fist at the Judge and the Doctor, and told them, “You crooked child abusers! I’m a pyromaniac, I have guns and know how to use them, I’d like to beat you senseless, I know where you live, and I’m going to hold you accountable!” Under those circumstances, it would be obvious that Defendant was making an unprotected “true threat” against the victims, even if the phrase “crooked child abusers” was protected speech. Defendant’s threats neither lose force, nor gain protection, merely because he built them up over the course of a years-long campaign of harassment. In fact, they may be even more insidious because they show a persistent, single-minded obsession, not just an isolated outburst or mere venting. To the extent Defendant attempted to veil his threats behind self-serving disclaimers and supposed “hypotheticals,” the victims saw through that pretext—as did the jury, and as do we. Accordingly, even though many of Defendant’s statements in isolation are protected speech and would make application of Indiana Code section 35-45-2-1(c)(6) and (7) unconstitutional, they form part of the context in which his other statements and conduct become an unprotected “true threat” that may properly be prosecuted under Indiana Code section 35-45-2-1(c)(1)–(3).
And under the circumstances of this case, we find neither fundamental error nor ineffective assistance of counsel in allowing Defendant to be convicted under general verdicts that failed to distinguish between protected “criminal defamation” and unprotected “true threats.” Even though that distinction is a matter of constitutional significance, its absence did not deprive Defendant of due process or make a fair trial impossible. To the contrary, it was precisely what enabled his reasonable defense strategy of emphasizing the substantial portion of his statements that the jury would likely recognize as harsh but protected “protest speech,” while glossing over his other statements and conduct that had legitimately threatening implications. Our principal concern is not whether that strategy promoted careful constitutional doctrine (which it did not), but rather whether it afforded Defendant a reasonably effective defense to his particular case (which it did).
We therefore grant transfer and affirm Defendant’s convictions for intimidating the Judge and obstruction of justice as to the Doctor, finding the evidence sufficient to support those convictions under Indiana Code section 35-45-2-1(c)(1)–(3) without implicating constitutional free-speech protections. As to reversing Defendant’s intimidation convictions involving the Doctor and the Judge’s wife, and affirming his perjury conviction, we summarily affirm the Court of Appeals.
Dickson, C.J., and Rucker, David, and Massa, JJ., concur.