Trending
A 49-year-old Minot woman will serve six months in jail and three years of supervised probation for stalking her ex-husband's girlfriend last year.
Kathy Lou Schuler, formerly known as Kathy Lou Pearson, entered an Alford plea to the Class C felony charge on Wednesday in district court in Minot before Northwest District Court Judge Benjamen Johnson. Johnson was specially appointed to the case because judges in the North Central District all know the victim because she works for the district court system. The Alford plea means that Schuler maintains her innocence but recognizes she might be found guilty if the case went to trial.
Under the terms of a plea deal worked out between the prosecution and defense, Schuler was sentenced to five years in prison, with all suspended but the six months, followed by three years of supervised probation. She must also obtain a mental health evaluation, have no contact with the victim, and pay $525 in court costs.
Schuler created a fake profile on the website Plenty of Fish which contained a photo lifted from the victim's Facebook page and posted derogatory statements about the victim. The victim was made aware of the profile and contacted the creator of the profile to demand it be taken down and that her photo not be used. The creator of the profile removed the photo but left up the profile with disparaging statements about the victim. Schuler later stole photos from the woman's Facebook page and then created a second profile on Plenty of Fish with disparaging information about the victim.
Schuler's defense lawyer had previously tried to argue that her actions were constitutionally protected free speech, but the judge rejected that argument.
Schuler had previously been convicted of violating a protection order prohibiting contact, a Class A misdemeanor, in September 2014, and of Class C felony endangering by fire or explosion, in May 2013. The victim in this case was also a victim in one of the other cases, according to Ward County Assistant State's Attorney Ashlei Neufeld.
"She's dangerous and will stop at nothing to destroy me," the victim told Judge Johnson at the change of plea hearing on Wednesday.
The victim said a no contact order might work with a "normal sort of criminal" but Schuler has tried to hurt her in "unconventional and scary ways." The victim told the judge that Schuler has tried to have her fired numerous times and has contacted her employers using false names and has also contacted the victim's family members. The victim asked the judge to expand the no contact order to prohibit Schuler from having any contact with her family or employers and to bar her from using the internet. Johnson said he would ban Schuler from contacting the victim at her workplace but couldn't extend the no contact order to her family. He also said internet use at the Ward County Jail is either nonexistent or monitored, so he also would not ban Schuler from using the internet. Under the terms of the plea deal, Schuler is permitted work release from the Ward County Jail.
Schuler apologized to the victim at the hearing and said they used to be friends. She said it had began as "a vicious little game" in which she bashed the victim on Facebook and the victim then bashed Schuler back. Schuler said she "hopes it's over now."
Schuler was ordered to report to the jail to begin serving her sentence on June 21.