Jaynes v. Commonwealth of Virginia
Virginia Supreme Court
666 S.E.2d 303 (2008)
- Written by Mike Cicero , JD
Facts
Jeremy Jaynes (defendant) sent tens of thousands of unsolicited emails to America Online email addresses that he surreptitiously obtained. His emails disguised the true sender by inserting other account holders’ addresses as the sender. The Commonwealth of Virginia (the commonwealth) (plaintiff) obtained a conviction of Jaynes under Virginia Code § 18.2-152.3.1 (the Virginia spam statute), which criminalized the sending of certain numbers of unsolicited emails “with the intent to falsify or forge electronic mail transmission information.” The Virginia Court of Appeals affirmed Jaynes’s conviction, but Jaynes successfully petitioned for review. Before the Virginia Supreme Court, Jaynes argued that the Virginia spam statute violated his right to anonymous speech under the First Amendment. The commonwealth responded by arguing that: (1) the Virginia spam statute was exempt from First Amendment scrutiny because it addressed a form of trespassing; and (2) in any event, the statute (a) targeted fraudulent emails and thus was not overbroad and (b) could be construed narrowly to prevent invalidation.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Agee, J.)
What to do next…
Here's why 832,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
- Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,500 briefs, keyed to 994 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
- The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
- Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
- Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.
