https://www.timesunion.com/news/article/Facebook-harassment-case-against-Morse-critic-12861338.php
Facebook harassment case against Morse critic thrown out
Prosecutors concede no evidence to support arrest of Cohoes man
Updated 6:25 pm, Tuesday, April 24, 2018
Shawn Morse, Mayor of the City of Cohoes, speaks at a Veterans Memorial Park Dedication at West End Park on Saturday, Nov. 11, 2017.
Shawn Morse, Mayor of the City of Cohoes, speaks at a Veterans Memorial Park Dedication at West End Park on Saturday, Nov. 11, 2017.
Cohoes Mayor Shawn Morse, state Assemblyman Steve McLaughlin and Milton Supervisor Daniel Lewza all denied abuse allegations against them and remained in their elected positions in 2017.
Cohoes Mayor Shawn Morse, state Assemblyman Steve McLaughlin and Milton Supervisor Daniel Lewza all denied abuse allegations against them and remained in their elected positions in 2017.
COHOES — A judge on Tuesday threw out a harassment charge filed in December against a man who had called for Cohoes Mayor Shawn Morse to resign in the wake of allegations he roughed up several women, including his wife.
Jeffrey Bagley, 52, was arrested in January by Cohoes police who went to his residence and took him into custody on the basis of a criminal complaint that had been filed by Barbara J. Borden, a Cohoes resident who is also Morse's cousin.
The complaint was based on Borden's allegations that Bagley had sent her annoying messages on a Facebook messenger system.
Kevin A. Luibrand, Bagley's attorney, asked Rensselaer City Court Judge Carmelo Laquidara to dismiss the case because he said there was no evidence to support the charge that had been filed against his client. The Albany County district attorney's office did not dispute Luibrand's assertion and agreed to the dismissal.
Laquidara, who took over the case after Cohoes Judge Andra Ackerman recused herself, dismissed the case Tuesday afternoon at Cohoes City Court in a proceeding that last less than two minutes.
"It is alarming how many Cohoes officials became involved in this bogus arrest," Luibrand said following the proceeding.
Earlier this month, Bagley filed a notice of claim against the city alleging Cohoes police falsely arrested him on the harassment charge. The claim also accuses the mayor of defamation for a series of incendiary and apparently false statements that Morse made about Bagley in January, when Morse called a local talk radio show that was discussing Bagley's arrest.
Morse said on Talk 1300 that Bagley had been "arrested 19 times for harassing people ... has a history of doing this to people ... called and texted a woman on her personal phone after she told him to stop (and) harassed and threatened a young woman so badly that she was afraid for her life."
The claim says those statements and others made by Morse, including his allegation that Bagley "sold crack cocaine to kids," were false and constitute defamation under state law. Morse also claimed that Bagley, who is friends with the mayor's wife, "used to call my wife non-stop."
The claim filed by Bagley seeks up to $200,000 in damages, including legal fees. Morse did not respond to a request for comment.
Bagley's criticism of Morse followed an incident on Nov. 10 in which Morse's wife, Brenda, called 911 and told a dispatcher that her husband had grabbed her by the neck and thrown her to the ground.
An investigation of the alleged domestic abuse incident was conducted by State Police and the case remains pending with the Albany County district attorney's office.
Bagley said the police handcuffed him and brought him to the city police station after his arrest. He was given an appearance ticket and they told him to "get out of here" after one of the officers looked at Bagley's mobile phone at the police station, and apparently saw that he had called the Times Union during his arrest and left the phone on, Bagley said.
