Mom banned from ranting about kids on Facebook

FLEMINGTON – A judge's order prohibiting a mother from ranting about her children and ex-husband on Facebook is not unconstitutional, a state appeals court said this week.

A Superior Court judge in 2011 ordered the Hunterdon County mother at the center of the case to not blog about or mention her children or ex-husband on her Facebook page as a condition of her probation stemming from her attempt that year to kidnap her two children into Canada.

But the mother, who had copped a plea deal dismissing the first-degree kidnapping charge and who was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, continued to write bizarre and disturbing Facebook posts in 2012 that used the word "Camelot" to refer to her family. The judge found that the posting violated her probation and she appealed.

The restriction on what she could say on Facebook was imposed after her ex-husband's family and the Hunterdon County Prosecutor's Office argued that the mother's maniacal postings were frightening, saying that they referenced Book of Revelation in the Bible, serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer, Satan and Adolf Hitler.

A state psychiatrist determined that she was not a danger to herself and others, but the judge agreed with the prosecutor that she should be prevented from blogging about her family for her children's sake.

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"You can talk about what you want to talk about, but don't reference (your husband) or the children. That's off limits," the judge told her.

In 2012, the mother went back on Facebook, this time using the using a code word to refer to her family.

Defiant, she claimed she was blogging about "what was in the public record."

In her appeal, she argued that the special condition of probation violated the 14th Amendment right to due process because the order was too vague, and that it violated her free speech rights because the order amounted to a "prior restraint," an argument often used by the press against government censorship.

The two-judge appellate panel, however, said the order was specific and didn't prevent her from blogging about other issues. The court said that the special condition was imposed with the purpose of advancing her rehabilitation, "namely, to deter her from engaging in behavior that is harmful to her victims and to lead a law-abiding life."

The woman, who is identified only by her initials in the court records in order to protect the identity of her family, was arrested in May 2011 after attempting to take her children to Canada in violation of a custody order. She agreed to plead guilty to third-degree interference with custody in exchange for having the kidnapping charge dropped. She originally was sentenced to probation with time served and ordered to undergo a psychiatric and psychological evaluation and medical treatment, and have no contact with her children and ex-husband's family.

She represented herself in the appeal.

Staff Writer Sergio Bichao: 908-243-6615; sbichao@MyCentralJersey.com