Sheena Barnes, the failed candidate for Sumpter Township treasurer, was found not guilty of charges filed against her by Sumpter Township following an obscene phone call to Supervisor Tim Bowman.
Barnes was charged with the ordinance violation of malicious use of a telephone following an obscenity-laced phone message she recorded on Bowman's home answering machine Aug. 19, 2022. Bowman took the recording to Sumpter Township police where charges were filed as a violation of a local ordinance rather than a criminal offense.
Barnes' attorney Rita Young dismissed the recorded tirade and said the language was not a violation of the law as curse words were in common use and even a part of rap music. She defended Barnes' conduct calling it part of the political process and characterized the recorded message which threatened physical harm to both Bowman and his wife as coarse joking. She argued that Barnes' did not intend to frighten or physically harm the couple.
Bowman testified that he felt the message was a threat, particularly mentioning harm to his wife.
Young told the six-person jury that there had been name-calling and negative interactions between Bowman and Barnes prior to the phone call and that Bowman had referred to Barnes as having “demons” and being a devil.
Barnes claimed she was being facetious during the call and her attorney presented her posted prayers as evidence. Sumpter Trustee Peggy Morgan testified before Judge Brian Oakley and the jury lauding Barnes' character and described her as caring, loving and religious friend.
Barnes took the witness stand in her own defense and insisted she did not mean any harm by the physical threats. She said she and Bowman had interacted and that he had offended her previously “three or four times and I let it go.” She claimed Bowman had called her twice just prior to the trial and described him as “a bully.”
The jury was unanimous in a decision in Barnes' favor and found her not guilty of the charge.
