Okay, put yourself in these shoes: Some creepy guy (or gal) you don’t know has begun showing up “randomly” at all the places you frequent. This person is always staring at you. It’s uncomfortable. Soon, flowers and “gifts” start arriving – a copy of his driver’s license, a postcard of the Statue of Liberty, love notes -- lots of creepy stuff that makes you more uncomfortable.

Naturally, you don’t respond. You don’t even know this person. Since there’s nothing, legally, to prevent him from doing so, he ratchets up his pursuit. Now he’s showing up on the doorstep of your home and attempting to corner you at the place where you work. He’s also calling on the phone, and the tone of his missives is becoming menacing. He writes “my hands should be on your body at all times,” and suggests that your two small children are just “an illusion.”

None of this is working, so now he starts reaching out to your family via e-mail. He writes to your father, telling him how hot you look in a particular dress – expressing to him that he’d like you to practice a certain accent “for our wedding night.” He then writes to your brother threatening that, if he doesn’t hear from you in 24 to 48 hours, he’s going to kill himself.

Meanwhile, he’s sending you drawings he’s made: an open grave, a headstone, and a man standing on the edge of a razor blade. When you open the envelope, a picture of a bride with the head torn off falls out.

This has been actress Uma Thurman’s life for the last four years. Her stalker, Jack Jordan, a 37-year-old unemployed pool cleaner from Oakland, CA, was finally arrested in October for misdemeanor counts of stalking and harassment. The trial is unfolding this week in New York City and, if Jordan is convicted, he could receive up to a year in jail.

A year? That’s it? After four years of making this woman’s life a living hell and terrorizing her children and her family?

The really awful part is that seeing Thurman in the courtroom – watching her read his sick ramblings – is probably the biggest thrill of this guy’s life. I’m sure, if he actually gets sentenced to a full year (unlikely), it would be a paltry price to pay compared to the high he’s getting from seeing his name splashed across the headlines with hers.

And, once he’s served his time, he’ll be free to stalk again. So, even if Thurman gets a “year off,” she’ll be forced to spend the rest of her life wondering where he is, what he’s thinking, and when he’s finally going to act on his obsessive impulses.

Before Robert John Bardo shot 21-year-old actress Rebecca Schaeffer in the foyer of her apartment building, he sent a letter to his sister proclaiming, “If I can’t have her, no one else will.” Bardo's stalking of the actress was well-documented before he killed her. Like so many before her, Schaeffer had no place to turn for help.

Personally, I think Jordan needs to be institutionalized. When you spend all of your time and energy trying to rob another person of their freedom to enjoy "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness," you cease being a simple annoyance and become a criminal.

What do you think?

Wendy Case is the MOLI View's contributing editor for Arts & Entertainment.