Bushmeat rationale: It's sacred meal - Liberian woman already locked up for assault, moves to quash feds' illegal-import case

By FRANK DONNELLY ADVANCE STAFF WRITER STATEN ISLAND, N.Y.

A West Brighton woman is serving a two-year state prison sentence for running over her husband's girl friend in a movie-theater parking lot last February. Now, the native of Liberia is trying to keep out of a federal lockup for allegedly importing primate (monkey) and other animal parts to America last year. Mamie Manneh Jefferson, 39, has filed a motion in Brooklyn federal court to dismiss charges of smuggling African bushmeat into the country. She contends that she eats bushmeat as part of her religious beliefs, and that it is a protected right.