Though a recent ruling from the state’s high court deemed a harassment statute unconstitutionally vague, a defendant in a separate case could not convince a judge to apply the holding retroactively as a way to trim the charges against him.

In August 2011, Larkin Ellis pleaded guilty to second-degree aggravated harassment, pursuant to Penal Law §240.30(1)(a), and was required to abide by a five-year order of protection directing him to stay away from his mother-in-law.