Davis Temple Stephenson, 41, was convicted in 2006 of 26 felonies, including criminal libel, criminal impersonation, stalking and forgery, and sentenced to 23 years in prison. 
Before that conviction, however, he was found guilty of seven bail violations for using a computer to create a résumé, answer e-mail, write a letter to the editor and get legal information.
Stephenson appealed his conviction on seven counts of violating his bond, claiming that the police investigation was biased and that the judge's order that he stay away from computers was too broad.
But the Colorado Court of Appeals disagreed Thursday and upheld his conviction. 
The more serious charges - which were not part of Thursday's decision - involve what prosecutors called a computer-based campaign of revenge that Stephenson waged against people he thought had wronged him. The three-judge appeals court panel said Thursday it wasn't unreasonable to require Stephenson to stay away from computers because most of his crimes involved a computer.
His crimes included sending a fake obituary to an Alaska newspaper that said a prison guard died of AIDS, making a poster that falsely identified his landlord as a sex offender and creating a Web site to falsely identify a jail deputy as a member of the North American Man/Boy Love Association.
Stephenson apologized at his sentencing hearing and said at the time, he considered his behavior to be "pranks and tasteless humor." 
"I'm very sorry if I hurt anyone emotionally or otherwise," he said at the hearing. (with a 23 year prison sentence I am sure he is VERY sorry).
Stephenson's attorney, Carolyn A. Blanchard of Crested Butte, did not return a call Thursday afternoon.
Stephenson was sentenced in April 2006 in District Court in Durango. He committed the felonies from late 1999 to 2003 while a student at Fort Lewis College. According to prosecutors, Stephenson usually targeted people in a position of authority: jail guards, a police officer, a landlord, a college newspaper editor and several Fort Lewis professors.
Stephenson will be eligible for parole in 2013, according to the state Department of Corrections. He is currently in Kit Carson Correctional Facility in Burlington.
http://durangoherald.com/asp-bin/article_generation.asp?article_type=news&article_path=/news/08/news080815_3.htm
