THE EVIDENCE DID NOT SUPPORT THE FINDING RESPONDENT COMMITTED THE FAMILY OFFENSE OF HARASSMENT SECOND DEGREE (FOURTH DEPT).
The Fourth Department, reversing Family Court, determined the evidence did not support the family offense of harassment second degree:
“A petitioner bears the burden of proving by a preponderance of the evidence that respondent committed a family offense” … . To establish that respondent committed acts constituting harassment in the second degree, petitioner was required to establish that respondent engaged in conduct that was intended to harass, annoy or alarm petitioner, that petitioner was alarmed or seriously annoyed by the conduct, and that the conduct served no legitimate purpose (see Penal Law § 240.26 [3]). Here, the evidence presented by petitioner at the hearing consisted primarily of petitioner’s testimony that respondent posted “negative posts and stuff” on social media about him including, in particular, two posts on Facebook about an unnamed “ex” that he believed referred to him, after which respondent blocked him from viewing her posts. We conclude under the circumstances of this case that the evidence presented by petitioner failed to establish by a preponderance of the evidence that respondent engaged in acts constituting harassment in the second degree … . Matter of Geremski v Berardi, 2023 NY Slip Op 04883, Fourth Dept 9-29-23
Practice Point: Here the finding respondent committed the family offense of harassment second degree was not supported by the preponderance of the evidence.