No State Action In Alleged Slander By Pastor

In Cohn v. Freeman, 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 128104 (WD NC, Nov. 22, 2010), a North Carolina federal district court dismissed a free exercise claim (as well as a claim for slander) brought pro se by plaintiff Debra Cohn who claimed that defendant, a pastor at Mt. Zion Restoration Church, told her son that his now deceased father believed that Cohn was trying to kill him. The pastor warned the son not to eat anything that Cohn prepared because she might be trying to poison him also. Following these events, Cohn stopped attending Mt. Zion Church. In dismissing the First Amendment claim, the court concluded both that defendant was not acting under color of state law nor did Cohn allege that she was asked or forced to leave her church.