9.42.030 Stalking.
A. Other than where a person has been charged with this offense under circumstances where (a) the stalker has previously been convicted of any crime of harassment as defined in RCW 9A.46.060 of the same victim or members of the victim’s family or household or any person specifically named in a protective order, (b) the stalker violates any protective order protecting the person being stalked, (c) the stalker has previously been convicted of a gross misdemeanor or felony stalking offense under RCW 9A.46.110 for stalking another person, (d) the stalker was armed with a deadly weapon as defined in RCW 9.94A.125 while stalking the person, (e) the stalker’s victim is or was a law enforcement officer, judge, juror, attorney, victim advocate, legislator or community corrections officer, and the stalker stalked the victim to retaliate against the victim for an act the victim performed during the course of official duties or to influence the victim’s performance of official duties, or (f) the stalker’s victim is a current, former, or prospective witness in an adjudicative proceeding, and the stalker stalked the victim to retaliate against the victim as a result of the victim’s testimony or potential testimony; a person commits the crime of stalking if, without lawful authority and under circumstances not amounting to a felony attempt of another crime:
1. They intentionally and repeatedly harasses or repeatedly follows another person; and
2. The person being harassed or followed is placed in fear that the stalker intends to injure the person, another person, or property of the person or of another person. The feeling of fear must be one that a reasonable person in the same situation would experience under all the circumstances; and
3. The stalker either:
a. Intends to frighten, intimidate or harass the person; or
b. Knows or reasonably should know that the person is afraid, intimidated, or harassed even if the stalker did not intend to place the person in fear of intimidation or harass the person.
B. A person who stalks another person under this section is guilty of a gross misdemeanor.
C. It is not a defense to the crime of stalking under subsection (A)(3)(a) of this section that a stalker was not given actual notice that the person did not want the stalker to contact or follow the person. It is not a defense to the crime of stalking under subsection (A)(3)(b) of this section that the stalker did not intend to frighten, intimidate or harass the person. It shall be a defense to the crime of stalking that the defendant is a licensed private detective acting within the capacity of their license as provided by Chapter 18.165 RCW. (Ord. 5682 § 1, 2002.)