By Margaret Beimdiek
A Rockbridge County District Court judge found a Washington and Lee University senior not guilty of stalking and imposed a two-year protective order last Friday.
Judge Christopher Billias said he acquitted Brandon Konlian, 22, of Salisbury, Md., because the state stalking law requires two instances of threatening behavior. Konlian violated a university no-contact order once, the judge said.
But Billias imposed the two-year protective order because he said he was troubled by Konlian’s actions.
“Can’t you see she’s afraid of you,” Billias said to Konlian.
Konlian’s ex-partner, another W&L student, took the unusual step of filing a stalking charge herself on Feb. 12. Usually, victims rely on police to file such charges.
The female W&L student filed the charge after she said Konlian violated a no-contact order issued by W&L in November after he continued to reach out to her following their breakup last August.
“I’ve never been angrier with anyone,” Konlian’s ex-partner quoted from a text from him.
On Aug. 26, the female student ended a nearly yearlong relationship with Konlian. She testified that she decided to break up with him after she realized that she was no longer attracted to him and viewed him only as a friend.
“I was just trying to do the right thing and let him know how I was feeling,” she told Billias.
She testified that she agreed to talk to Konlian again several days later after he said that he was confused and wanted closure. She said she told him she had not changed her mind and wasn’t going to.
On Sept. 3, the ex-partner testified that Konlian texted her on what would’ve been their 10-month anniversary.
“I love you enough to give you space,” the woman quoted from Konlian’s text. “But I love you too much to walk away from you.”
In the same text, she testified, he also wrote, “I’ve never been angrier with anyone.”
She testified that he also invited her to a “romantic” anniversary dinner at Big Spring Farm, where they first met at a fraternity formal in 2022.
Konlian’s ex-partner told the judge that she thought the invitation was inappropriate and made her feel uncomfortable.
She testified that she blocked Konlian on Sept. 6 on text messaging and social media because he continued to reach out to her.
On Sept. 15, she testified, another person delivered a nine-page handwritten letter to her that Konlian had written.
She said she only read two pages of the letter. In the letter, she said, Konlian wrote that he wanted to tell her something he’d never said to anyone else:
“For you to say you don’t love me anymore,” she quoted, reading from the letter. “It was an excuse. Love is a promise. It doesn’t end.”
Konlian’s ex-partner testified that he didn’t contact her again until Oct. 19 when the two ran into each other on the stairs of the W&L parking garage.
She testified that he emailed her university account later that night.
“Running into you was a reminder that there is still so much left between us,” she testified that he wrote in the email.
She said she never responded to the email.
“For you to say you don’t love me anymore,” she quoted, reading from the letter. “It was an excuse. Love is a promise. It doesn’t end.”
Thanksgiving break email
Over Thanksgiving break, Konlian emailed her while she was back in her hometown, she testified.
“I have been wanting to talk to you the past few weeks, but you have made that pretty impossible,” the ex-partner read from his email. “You’re the first thing I think about when I wake up. I’m scared of the day I wake up and you’re the second thing I think about because it means I’m letting go of you.”
Konlian also said in the email that his grandfather had passed away and that he was having a hard time.
She testified that she responded on Nov. 26 and expressed sympathy for his grandfather’s death. But she said she also asked him to stop contacting her.
But he ignored her request, she said. He emailed her again the next day.
“I don’t know what I’ve done to deserve this cold and heartless treatment,” she quoted from his email.
Title IX
The female student testified she met with Lauren Kozak, the W&L Title IX coordinator, on Nov. 30 to obtain a no-contact directive.
A no-contact directive issued by the university’s Title IX office bans a student from contacting another student who requested the order. According to policies on the university website, students face consequences if they violate the orders, including disciplinary action, suspension or expulsion.
Konlian testified that he met with Kozak after the directive was put in place.
Kozak testified that she told Konlian that if he violated the terms that “certain sanctions could be put in place.” But she testified that she did not explain the specific consequences.
Konlian testified that he met later with Chris Reid, the university’s director of residence life, who explained the penalties for violating a no-contact order.
On Jan. 28, Konlian emailed his ex-partner again, she testified. This time, she said, he sent her a message on her personal Gmail account after she’d attended a party at his fraternity house the night before.
“I know you don’t want to hear from me and that I’m not supposed to reach out,” she read from the email he sent.
Konlian testified that her attendance at the party confused him. “To me, she was sending me mixed messages,” he testified. “I thought that her showing up at my fraternity house was her wanting to reach out.”
The female student testified she was afraid because his behavior appeared to be escalating in seriousness. She said she thought his actions were out of character because he was too smart to do something to jeopardize his future.
Konlian’s ex-partner testified that she reported the email to Kozak but decided to pursue action in the local court instead of the Title IX process.
“I no longer trusted the school’s no-contact directive order or that they could protect me,” she testified in court.
More about Konlian
Neill Wente, Konlian’s defense attorney, asked the judge to shorten the protective order and for it to end right after graduation.
Wente said he didn’t want the protective order on Konlian’s permanent record because it could hurt his job prospects.
Konlian’s ex-partner said he had talked about searching for jobs in the city where she’s from after graduation.
Billias said he imposed the two-year protective order because he wanted the Konlian’s ex-partner to feel safe going to back to Dallas to start her career.
The judge also told Konlian that if he violates the protective order anytime in the next two years, he could face additional charges.
Wente said Konlian is a senior and is still a student at W&L. He said that Konlian is looking into options to finish his degree at another university.
Konlian testified he feels like his reputation has been ruined.
But he expressed regret when he testified.
“If at any point if I would’ve known that my messages would have caused her fear, I would never have sent them,” Konlian testified. “I don’t regret much in life, but I regret sending that message.”
The ex-partner testified that she’s sought professional counseling because of the emotional stress she said Konlian caused her.
“I’m 22, but I feel so much older,” she said. “I feel like I lost a part of myself that was innocent and trusting, and I’ll never get that back.”