Ashanti Stalker Sentenced to Prison Again

By UMMEY KARIM

A twice-convicted Brooklyn man was sentenced to prison for up to four years with a five-year court order of protection for stalking R&B singer, Ashanti, on Thursday.

Devar Hurd, 37, represented himself in the Manhattan Supreme Court in front of Justice Kirke Bartley Jr., who also denied the defendant’s routine motion to set aside the verdict.

This was the second time that Hurd has been convicted on charges of harassing singer, Ashanti Douglas, and her family. The Douglas family was not there for the sentencing.

Hurd was previously convicted in 2009 and served jail time for stalking and sending unwanted sexually explicit messages to Douglas through Twitter.

Hurd was again convicted on March 18.

Assistant District Attorney Carolina Holderness said Hurd “refuses to accept responsibility” and “relentlessly pursues what he wants.”

Holderness added that Hurd openly disregarded the order of protections that the court placed to stay away from Ashanti and her sister Kenashia Douglas. He showed up at many charity events hosted by the family and even posed for a picture with them.

“The Douglas family begged him to stop,” said Holderness. “The family wants to make it crystal clear that they want nothing to do with him.”

“She’s an adult and so am I,” said Hurd. He repeatedly mentioned that he was among several followers in her Twitter and if she found the messages inappropriate she could have easily blocked him; however, the singer did not see the dozens of messages from Hurd until July 2013 when she and her sister compared Twitter accounts.

“It is not a crime to send a sexually explicit tweet,” said Hurd. He mentioned he “never tweeted against her will” even though this was a violation of the restraining order.

“Suffice to say, the jury has spoken,” said Bartley.