Colorado’s second-highest court clarified for the first time on Thursday that repeated phone calls, even if they are unanswered, are “contacts” for which defendants may be convicted under the state’s stalking law.

Roy Matthew Miller is serving a 21.5-year prison sentence for various acts of domestic violence. His stalking conviction came after jurors heard Miller placed 47 calls to his ex-girlfriend while he was detained at the Adams County jail. Although she answered four of the calls, the verdict form listed all of the calls as potential stalking incidents.

On appeal, Miller noted Colorado’s stalking law criminalizes repeated contacts that cause a reasonable person to suffer serious emotional distress. He argued the law does not mention “attempted” contacts, and jurors may have reached a different conclusion about stalking if they could only evaluate the four completed phone calls.

“A jury is likely to view over 40 acts of purportedly illegal conduct differently than a handful of telephone calls,” wrote public defender Kelly A. Corcoran.

A three-judge panel for the Court of Appeals determined other states with similar laws had an understanding that unanswered phone calls count as “contacts.” Arkansas’ Court of Appeals, for example, agreed a man committed stalking even though his victim had stopped answering the phone after receiving so many calls from him. Similarly, the New Hampshire Supreme Court found a man had stalked his victim by calling a restaurant and talking only to the victim’s friend.

Judge Jerry N. Jones, writing in the May 2 opinion, noted Miller’s victim testified that the repeated calls caused her to lose sleep, change her phone number and seek counseling. Consequently, it was proper for jurors to consider all of Miller’s calls from the jail.

The stalking law “serves to protect victims from emotional distress,” he wrote.

The case is People v. Miller.