Vernon animal rights advocate may sue court officials

BY ERIKA NORTON
VERNON — An animal rights activist from Highland Lakes intends to sue both the Vernon Township municipal court administrator and the municipal prosecutor over the harassment prosecution she is facing over a citizen’s complaint about a Facebook post.
In the post, Susan Kehoe allegedly identified a man whom she said she believed to have killed a mother black bear named “Pretty Mama.”
Kehoe wrote a book about the bear and her two cubs in 2014 titled, “The Adventures of Two Black Bear Cubs.”
In the notice of tort claim sent on Feb. 21, Kehoe’s attorney Daniel Perez disclosed Kehoe’s intention to sue Municipal Court Administrator Donna Zuidema and Municipal Prosecutor Alicia Ferrante, as well as possibly other municipal court employees, over what Perez asserts as “false charges” and “malicious prosecution.”
Under New Jersey state law, a notice of tort claim is required before anyone can sue a public entity or employee for damages in connection with the performance of their duties. Following the notice, a plaintiff has up to two years to file suit.
The complaintIn October, two men, Nicholas Pisco and Michael Bush filed a citizen’s complaint against Susan Kehoe over two Facebook posts, one which allegedly blamed Pisco for the killing of “Pretty Mama” and one which allegedly blamed Bush for the killing of “Pretty Mama,” which they say resulted in them receiving death threats. According to Perez, Pisco and Bush went to file a police complaint first, but the Vernon police decided to not get involved, which is why they filed a citizen’s complaint instead.
Perez said that he was able to find the Facebook post related to Pisco, which said, “I believe Nicholas Pisco killed Pretty Mama.” As far as the post related to Bush, Kehoe denies ever posting it, and Perez said that the prosecution has yet to produce the post.
“The real issue that I have is, where’s the post?” Perez said. “If it’s your position that she put this up on Facebook, and he’s (Bush) got all kinds of screengrabs of these people complaining about him, where’s the post that Susan Kehoe supposedly put up? Doesn’t exist.”
He also said that a municipal court case for harassment predicated on a single Facebook post raises a range of First Amendment concerns because most people who post to Facebook about their belief of what someone did, would never think they would be charged in municipal court with harassment. Harassment charges in municipal court are largely treated as a petty disorderly persons offense, except in serious cases.
Perez called the citizen’s complaint “demonstrably false” and said that Zuidema should not have found probable cause since she didn’t even look at the Facebook post.
Bush respondsBush, the owner of Mountain Mike’s Sports Shop in McAfee, says the Facebook post by Kehoe accusing him absolutely exists, and that the prosecutor has all the copies. He said the post shows she posted a direct link to his site with all of his personal and business information.
In addition, Bush said that the prosecutor has a copy of a Facebook post where Kehoe allegedly posted a picture of his uncle, his uncle’s vehicle with the license plate, and his uncle’s home address.
Both Zuidema and Ferrante declined to comment.
“I had all the copies of it, I still have them, they were all forwarded to the prosecutor,” Bush said, “and the prosecutor will be forwarding them to the other prosecutor in the new court.”
On Feb. 28, Vernon Township Municipal Court Judge James G. Devine transferred the Kehoe matter to Hopatcong Municipal Court, where a case management review is set for April 3 at 6 p.m.
Bush called the case being moved to another court, “just a game they play.”
If convicted, Kehoe could face up to 30 days in jail and be fined up to $500.