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Appeals Court Upholds Cantonment Man’s Right To Walk His Dog, Avoid Getting Hit By Bus

An appeals court has ruled that a Cantonment man has every right to walk his dog around his neighborhood, throw away trash and avoid getting hit by a bus.

The Florida First District Court of Appeals has reversed a stalking injunction against Billy Stone that required him to stay 500 feet away from the residence of Teresa McMillian, his neighbor.

In December 2016, Stone put a threatening letter in McMillian’s mailbox, warning her not to “pull another stunt like (she) did today.” Stone testified that McMillian honked her horn and intentionally drove her car at him while he walked his dog with his back turned, causing him to jump out of the way, thinking he and his dog were about to be hit.

Stone admitted writing the letter, which intimidated McMillian, while he was angry about this incident. McMillian testified that Stone walked around the circular street the two lived on repeatedly throughout the day. Stone had done this since approximately 2009, but it now unnerved McMillian in light of Stone’s letter.

McMillian also did not like that Stone walked his dog on a government-owned vacant lot next to her house. So, in March or April 2017, she set up a motion-sensing sprinkler on the border of her property to spray Stone while he was on the vacant lot. Although the sprinkler once succeeded in soaking Stone, he did not stop walking his dog on the empty lot and, in June 2017, McMillian called the police to report that he and his dog were defying a no-trespassing sign on the lot.

At the hearing on McMillian’s petition for a stalking injunction in July 2017, the trial court noted several times that the parties were engaged in “tit for tat” behavior, encouraged them to “go (their) separate ways,” and declined to grant the injunction.

Just two months later in September, McMillian filed another petition for injunction for protection against stalking. Her chief complaint was that Stone walked past her house far too often. She knew this from daily reviews of her security camera footage.

McMillian maintained a log, marking how many times per day Stone walked past her house from August until September 2017, a number often in double digits. McMillian felt intimidated by Stone walking past her house because of the letter he wrote in December 2016. McMillian testified that on the morning of August 1, she discovered dog waste in her trash can, which had previously been placed at the curb and was to be emptied shortly. After reviewing her security camera, she fingered Stone and his dog as the culprits. McMillian admitted that she later went outside and yelled at Stone and his wife for this incident as they walked past her house, but insisted that she was very afraid of him.

McMillian similarly found Stone to be the guilty party, after reviewing her security camera footage, when she heard a vehicle down the road rev its engine too loud and for too long. Lastly, McMillian complained that on August 15, “Stone stepped on (her) driveway to avoid being hit by a bus that was driving past (her) house,” even though he had previously been told to stay away from her property.

Stone testified that he has routinely walked the loop around his home since 2009 and has not in any way changed his routine based on McMillian. He stated that he walks to alleviate anxiety, to talk and visit with neighbors, and to help with the neighborhood watch program he helped develop. Six neighbors testified that Stone is active in the community and routinely walks past their house every day, often stopping to talk. Stone testified that he always picks up after his dog and, if it is trash day, will put it in the nearest can before it gets picked up; he admitted using McMillian’s can once, but denied it was an attempt to intimidate her.

A trial court granted a one-year injunction against Stone for stalking based upon him walking around his own neighborhood.

The appeals court did not find legally sufficient evidence that Stone maliciously engaged in a course of conduct directed at McMillian that would cause a reasonable person substantial emotional distress. And the court found after the trial court declined to grant an injunction in July 2017, McMillian took every innocuous act of Stone as one of aggression and intimidation, including scrupulously logging each time he walked past her home after daily review of her security camera.

“This neighborly feud, which does include some uncivil or immature conduct, does not include stalking,” the court found.