A federal judge has dismissed a malicious prosecution claim brought by a man who made public his allegations of mistreatment against a county jail guard through posts on a Twitter account created by his girlfriend under a fictitious name.

Western District of New York Judge Frank Geraci Jr. ruled that Dannie Sims could not sustain his claims of a violation of 42 U.S.C. §1983 against two Monroe County prosecutors, a county sheriff's investigator and a sheriff's deputy who tried to prosecute him for identity theft and other charges.

Geraci said in Sims v. Monaghan, 13-cv-6496, that to pursue malicious prosecution claim successfully under 42 U.S.C. §1983, Sims had to show there was no probable cause for authorities to have initiated a criminal prosecution. The judge found that any “reasonable” person reviewing the case could conclude that Sims sought through Twitter to “injure or defraud” the sheriff's deputy, Michael Zamiara.