Injunction Holds After Threats to Neighbor’s Dog

(CN) - A Utah woman who threatened her neighbor's dog and then blogged about wanting to kill it cannot unravel a three-year civil stalking injunction, a state appeals court ruled.

Amie Brown made the threats in question in March 2011 when a dog belonging to her neighbor, Pamela Slone, got loose one day and allegedly acted aggressively toward Brown's children.

Brown admitted in a blog entry titled "Kill Time" that she chased the dog with mace and approached Sloane's house with a loaded shotgun, intending to kill the dog and maybe "kick the owner's ass."

Brown's husband persuaded her not to go through with the shotgun execution, but Sloane learned about the "Kill Time" post from some neighbors who knew about Brown's blog.

In a request for a stalking injunction filed a few weeks later, Sloane said Brown also harassed Sloane's landlords to have her evicted. Though Sloane kept her residence, the landlords did force her to give up the dog because Brown threatened to sue them.

Crediting the allegations of Brown's in-person threats, her communications with the landlords and the "Kill Time" blog, a judge in Ogden awarded Slone a three-year stalking injunction.

The Utah Court of Appeals affirmed last month, rejecting Brown's claims that the trial court erred in accepting statements that the women proffered before they were put under oath.

"Brown took advantage of the opportunity to cross-examine Slone under oath about (her) statements," Judge Carolyn McHugh wrote for a three-member panel. "As a result, she cannot show any prejudice due to the trial court's reliance on Slone's proffered testimony and cannot prevail under the doctrine of plain error."

Brown also failed to show that her blog was not directed at Sloane.

"Notwithstanding Brown's references to Slone in her blog as 'the lady,' the details of the encounter were specific enough that Slone's neighbors identified her as the target of the threat and directed her to the site," the decision states.

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