5
development.
If William later developed a lot Colton had
identified, Colton would collect a finder's fee.4
In either late February or early March, 2008, William
telephoned Colton and enlisted him to play a series of "pranks"
on Jim.
ways:
The ideas for these "pranks" were generated in several
(1) William would directly instruct Colton or convey
ideas through Gail; (2) the Johnsons would provide information
about the Lyons family to Colton so that he could use this
information to harass them; or (3) the Johnsons would prompt
Colton to think of ideas.
Over the course of thirty-five days in late March and early
April, 2008, the defendants, directly and through Colton,
engaged in a series of acts directed at the Lyons family.
The
Commonwealth alleged four separate acts of harassment in
addition to the false report of child abuse, and Colton was
called as its key witness at the trial.
The first alleged act occurred on March 18, 2008, when
Colton posted from his computer an advertisement that appeared
on the Internet site "Craigslist."
The advertisement provided
the Lyonses' home telephone number and address and stated that
4
Gerald Colton identified lots for William Johnson by
placing his initials next to vacant lots on the sheets of the
town of Andover's board of assessors. At trial, Colton admitted
that his initials appeared to be next to the lot that later
became the focus of litigation between the Johnsons and the
Lyonses, but suggested that the initials had been forged.