"Words must do more than offend, cause indignation or anger," Judge Brian J. Devine says in court.
MOUNT OLIVE -- An animal rights activist accused of harassing two hunters in a Facebook post has been acquitted by a municipal court judge.
Susan Kehoe of Vernon was the subject of complaints filed by hunters Michael Bush and Nickey Pisco, filed after Kehoe allegedly posted on Facebook that she "believed" one of them killed a local bear.
Judge Brian J. Devine found Kehoe not guilty on both complaints Monday, according to the municipal court.
In announcing his decision, Devine cited a 2016 state Appellate Division ruling, the New Jersey Herald reported.
The appeals court, in that case, overturned the harassment conviction of a retired Union County corrections officer for allegedly photocopying wedding photos of a sergeant and adding vulgar comments.
"Words must do more than offend, cause indignation or anger the addressee to lose the protection of the First Amendment," Levine said in court Monday, according to the newspaper.
The hunters filed complaints against Kehoe after Vernon police, and the state Division of Fish and Wildlife, declined to press charges against her.
The case was transferred from Vernon in February, one week after Kehoe filed a notice of tort claim against Vernon.
In the claim notice, Kehoe's attorney, Daniel Perez, charged that Vernon Municipal Prosecutor Alicia Ferrante decided to proceed with the prosecution despite being unable to produce, during a Feb. 14 court appearance in Vernon, the purported Facebook post cited in the complaints.
Kehoe is a longtime opponent of New Jersey's bear hunt.
Perez was her attorney during a 2012 municipal court trial, also in Vernon Township, in which she was acquitted on a charge of intentionally feeding bears.
In 2010, Kehoe was sentenced to one year probation and fined $1,250 after she interfered with state wildlife biologists who were trying to tranquilize
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