Vermont’s Supreme Court has upheld a no-stalking order against Daniel Banyai, the owner and operator of Slate Ridge, an unpermitted paramilitary training facility in West Pawlet.
Mandy Hulett, whose land abuts Slate Ridge, sought the stalking order in January after Banyai posted threatening messages about her family, along with her home and work addresses, on the facility’s social media pages.
Banyai appealed the order several months ago, and the Supreme Court heard oral arguments from both parties earlier this week.
Earlier, in issuing the stalking order, Judge Helen Toor of the Rutland Superior Court wrote in her decision that “any reasonable person would interpret the overall message as threatening to cause physical harm to Hulett and her family. Banyai certainly knew or should have known this.”
The posts included language about “eradicating” the family and advertised stickers that featured the name “Hulett,” along with a red circle and line through it. One requested that Slate Ridge’s followers find a white SUV — the same model vehicle as Hulett’s daughter’s car — to “shoot up and then blow up” for a vehicle assault class.
At the first hearing in the lower court, Banyai’s attorney, Jill Barger, argued that the speech was political and protected under the First Amendment, and that Hulett couldn’t prove that Banyai operated the social media account. She also argued that Banyai did not intend to harm the Huletts.
A new attorney, Rutland-based Steven Howard, reiterated those arguments before Supreme Court Justices Paul Reiber, William D. Cohen and Harold Eaton earlier this week.
“When we take a look, and rationally examine the exhibits presented from a neutral standpoint, an objective standpoint, there is no threat involving any of these postings,” he said.
In her decision, Toor had found that Banyai’s claim that he didn’t run the Slate Ridge Facebook page, which no longer exists, wasn’t credible. The Supreme Court justices deferred to Toor’s decision and said it is the “exclusive role of the trial court” to determine whether witnesses and testimony are credible.
Quoting the original decision, the Supreme Court says the lower court “could reasonably find, ‘in the context of defendant’s overall course of conduct as well as the specific context,’ that these posts ‘would cause a reasonable person to fear unlawful violence.’”
The order, which remains in effect until January 2023, prohibits Banyai from contacting Hulett. He must also stay 500 feet from her, her children and their property.
Banyai has also appealed a decision by an environmental court judge that requires him to discontinue his training facility and dismantle all unpermitted buildings on his property.
