Devar Hurd who was convicted of felony stalking R&B singer Ashanti Douglas got the maximum penalty on Thursday.
Hurd, 36, was convicted of sending Douglas and her sister “hundreds” of sexually graphic Twitter messages despite a restraining order in place.
Douglas and her family testified against Hurd in three trials. The 2nd trial, in October, was declared a mistrial after a juror became ill during deliberations.
At his 3rd trial, Hurd explained that he sent Douglas explicit messages because they were reunited.
“Ladies and gentlemen, the business we work in is sexually explicit,” said Hurd, who represented himself in court.
“She’s trying to take any explicit stuff and make it look criminal,” he added.
The judge hit Hurd with the maximum penalty — one to four years behind bars.
But since he already served 3 years on an earlier conviction, Hurd could be released immediately or within months if he goes before a parole board.
Assistant District Attorney Carolina Holderness asked the judge for the maximum penalty.
“He has been told repeatedly by courts to leave these people alone,” Holderness said. “Even today in speaking to you … he minimizes this conduct after having heard in court the effect that it had on his victims.
Hurd was convicted in 2009 of stalking Douglas and sending her text messages through her mother/manager. He was released in 2010 and re-arrested in 2013 for stalking Ms. Douglas again.
Hurd was previously convicted twice in Indiana of stalking another woman.
“Both involved the harassment of a woman including making sexually-explicit gestures with a lollipop outside her place of employment,” Holderness said.
