NJ woman mowing her lawn at night goes berserk, loses appeal

📣 Woman told neighbor she would kill him, records show

📣 Her stepmother apologized to victim

📣 Latest attempt to overturn conviction fails

BURLINGTON TOWNSHIP — An appellate court has brushed off a New Jersey woman whose neighbor said she threatened to kill him during a bizarre racial tirade.

The decision handed down last month upholds Shakira A. Lasisi's conviction for disorderly conduct in November 2022.

The petty disorderly persons offense was a significant downgrade from the third-degree terroristic threats charge that Burlington Township police had originally filed against her a year before.

She was given a suspended sentence of 10 days in jail as long as she completed a year of probation.

New court documents reveal the details of the two bizarre encounters that led to Lasisi's arrest.

Threatened neighbor, hurled racial slurs

According to records, Lasisi was mowing the lawn at her father's house at night on Nov. 2, 2021 when her neighbor in Burlington Township came home.

The neighbor, who was Black, said during the municipal court trial that Lasisi began yelling at him, threw a trash bag at him, and threatened to "kill [his] f****** a**."

She then went to her car and started playing loud rap music with violent lyrics, court documents said.

Around five days later, the neighbor's nephew said Lasisi was "cussing him out" and almost hit him with her car. She then went to the neighbor at his home and called him "a Black motherf****r" and said she would have her "boys from Brooklyn come down" to "kill his Black a**."

The neighbor called the police and gave them the license plate number of Lasisi's vehicle.

Lasisi's stepmother then went over to the neighbor's home to apologize for the incidents.

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Failure to overturn conviction

In her appeal, Lasisi claimed her attorney was ineffective.

However, court documents said she represented herself at trial and waived her right to an attorney.

Lasisi also denied she was there during the incidents. But at one point, the judge found the woman had "slipped" and accidentally admitted to being at the home during the incident.

Another strike against Lasisi's credibility, according to the court, was she said she didn't listen to rap music — it was an attempt to discredit the neighbor's testimony about her behavior. However, she then gave "extensive testimony regarding rap music."

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