Statement of Andrew Joseph Ostrowski
I submit this statement in the matter of the 302 petition, and commitment, of Amy Kush.
I have known Amy for several years as a facebook friend, not knowing anything about her or where she was from.
She reached out to me a couple months ago concerning a mortgage foreclosure matter for any suggestions I had for her, her knowing that I have a background as a lawyer, and have talked a lot about mortgage foreclosures and the court system.
I went to Amy’s house on Monday, May 14, 2018 to look at some of her documents, to see if I could provide her any direction, or suggestions as to anything else she could do to address the situation.
Amy was very stressed about the impending June 1, 2018 sheriff’s sale, as she felt that it was wrongful, and she did not get a fair chance to present her claims in court. I did not observe her disposition on May 14, or the previous week when I first met her, as being any different than any other of the many persons I have met over the years who have been dealing with the tremendous stress of having a foreclosure looming over them while feeling that they have not been provided due process by the courts. In fact, Amy was very engaging, and even took some time to read some Bible passages to me, as I knew from viewing her facebook posts that she is a woman of faith.
On Monday, May 14, when I was there to pick up/look at some documents, Amy showed me and separately handed me a letter she had sent, or was going to send, and insisted that I and the other person I was with read it. This, I believe, is the letter that was the subject of the 302 affidavit.
I did read it, in its entirety, and I told her immediately that it was a very bad idea to send the letter, and it put her at risk of inviting some intrusion or other, because of the wording she used. I believe I specifically said “you can’t send this letter.”
As I understood it, she was asserting some biblical right under the Book of Ezekiel, I believe, in defense of her due process rights, and it contained something about a “warning of death,” and had it in bold letters. I believe she used those words because she felt that her mandate was to express it as expressed in the Bible passages to which she was referring. I have not gone and looked at any of these passages.
I told her at least 5 times that she should not send the letter as it stood, because I believed it would reasonably cause the recipient(s) some concern as to whether it was threat of physical harm, and would justify a further inquiry into it, and that I did not support her sending the letter as it was written, and that I wanted no part of any of it, and my admonitions were echoed right down to forecasting that the sheriff would be contacting her if she sent it.
I further did an assessment of her myself as to whether she presented any threat of harm. I asked her if she was planning to do anything affirmative to anyone that came upon her property, and I even asked her if she had any weapons of any sort in her home. She said answered negatively to both questions, and I did not observe any signs in her home of any such things – all of the items and materials around her house had messages of love and peace, and Jesus, etc..
The following Monday, as I recall, Amy filed a document in the Luzerne County courthouse, and messaged me when she got home and told me she was stopped by the sheriff’s deputies, and asked about her letter.
I believe it was a proper and reasonable inquiry under the circumstances, and I told her that specifically, and further reminded her that it was very bad judgment on her part to send the letter. I was actually surprised that they just let her go as she explained to me, because I do believe that further inquiry into it was a duty on the part of law enforcement under the circumstances, and remain of that opinion.
I also believe that, under all the circumstances, the detention of her for purposes of conducting a more thorough evaluation, whether through the law enforcement process, or through the mental health process, was fully proper and I, too, remained bothered by the lack of judgment she displayed in sending it, even though I do not believe the words themselves present any threat to anyone, and I did not believe that she presented such a risk to anyone.
I believe, based upon my own observation, that Amy was very distressed about her foreclosure, and that her lack of judgment in sending the letter resulted from that stress, together with her rigidity in matters of biblical interpretation.
Other than that one exercise of poor judgment, Amy was otherwise fine in all respects, though, in my opinion, she possesses some eccentricities, and unique world views that are not in the mainstream, but are all within the realm of the human condition, and that nothing I have observed suggests that she is any threat of harm to anyone, as her guiding ethics are the Love and Peace of God, and she grounds that in the Bible.
I will be available, and request the opportunity, to testify at any further proceedings in this matter.
Andrew Joseph Osrowski
From Joanne:
I am trying to get the fax and email of the judge so everyone might respond. Please, if you have any info on false psych holds, get the name, fax and email of the director of the facility AND the name and fax of the judge involved so people can respond.
Since there is little or no oversight in the court system (less than 1% of all judges are ever removed from the bench for wrongful conduct after complaints are filed), you the public has the right to turn to the media (blogs) to get this done.
Help me help you all. We must protect our still fragile democracy in the US
While I have not seen the letter, unless it contained a direct and imminent threat and she had the tools to carry it out, confirmed in the letter, she had a 1st Amendment right to write whatever her heart dictated, including very strong Bible passages, as a woman of faith, even if they were in bold. F that nonsense. She had a foreclosure, what do you think she was feeling at the time. At least she was being honest about her situation.
