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Teen Jailed for Facebook Posting About School Shooting
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Americans were still reeling from the elementary-school massacre in Newtown, Conn., when Justin Carter allegedly committed his crime in New Braunfels, a city in central Texas.
"I think I'ma [sic] shoot up a kindergarten and watch the blood of the innocent rain down and eat the beating heart of one of them," the 19-year-old wrote Feb. 13 on a public Facebook page in response to a taunt by one of his friends. The posting came some two months after a gunman killed 20 children and six adults at the school.
Mr. Carter and his parents say the comments were made in jest. But local prosecutors are treating them as a terrorist threat, a third-degree felony that carries a punishment of two years to 10 years in prison.
Mr. Carter has been in jail since his arrest in March, being held on a $500,000 bond. He has rejected a plea deal in which he would serve eight years in prison, said his lawyer, Ivan Friedman. A trial date hasn't been set.
Mr. Carter's case is the latest in which social-media comments prompted a criminal prosecution.
A Massachusetts rapper, 18-year-old Cameron D'Ambrosio, was arrested in May for posting lyrics on Facebook that included "f a boston bombinb [sic] wait til u see the s I do." He was released a month later, after a grand jury declined to indict him; his lawyer had said he wasn't a threat to society.
And Donte Jamar Sims, 22, of Charlotte, N.C., was sentenced to six months in June after pleading guilty to threatening the life of the president; he had tweeted "Ima assassinate president Obama this evening!"
Constitutional scholars say the legal question these cases raise is an old one: When does disturbing speech amount to a true threat? Eugene Volokh, a First Amendment expert at University of California, Los Angeles, said Mr. Carter could make the case that his comments "could reasonably be understood as a joke or hyperbole" and thus amount to protected speech. He also could argue his post was too generalhe didn't identify a school, for instanceto be considered a true threat, Mr. Volokh said.
The prosecutor in Mr. Carter's case, Comal County District Attorney Jennifer Tharp, declined to comment.
But Jonathan Blodgett, the Essex County district attorney who oversaw the Massachusetts case, defended his office's actions. "It's easy for some to dismiss a Facebook post or a text as a joke," he said in an email, adding that Mr. D'Ambrosio's Facebook post triggered dozens of reports, from concerned students to school officials.
Several Facebook users also reported Mr. Carter's comments to the social-media company and authorities, according to Mr. Friedman, his lawyer.
For Mr. Carter's family, the cases illustrate the naivet of teens who communicate online as they do in private, without considering the ramifications. "When he was arrested, he said, 'Wow, I guess what you say on Facebook really does matter,' " said Jennifer Carter, his mother. "He had no comprehension, as most teens don't, that what they're saying on the Internet isn't just being viewed by them and the people who know them."
Ms. Carter said police records and the criminal indictment of her son omit a crucial detail: According to Mr. Carter, he later posted "j/k," shorthand for "just kidding," during the Facebook conversation.
The district attorney's office hasn't turned over the full conversation, which Facebook removed. The company didn't respond to a request for comment.
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"I think I'ma [sic] shoot up a kindergarten and watch the blood of the innocent rain down and eat the beating heart of one of them," the 19-year-old wrote Feb. 13 on a public Facebook page in response to a taunt by one of his friends. The posting came some two months after a gunman killed 20 children and six adults at the school.
Mr. Carter and his parents say the comments were made in jest. But local prosecutors are treating them as a terrorist threat, a third-degree felony that carries a punishment of two years to 10 years in prison.
Mr. Carter has been in jail since his arrest in March, being held on a $500,000 bond. He has rejected a plea deal in which he would serve eight years in prison, said his lawyer, Ivan Friedman. A trial date hasn't been set.
Mr. Carter's case is the latest in which social-media comments prompted a criminal prosecution.
A Massachusetts rapper, 18-year-old Cameron D'Ambrosio, was arrested in May for posting lyrics on Facebook that included "f a boston bombinb [sic] wait til u see the s I do." He was released a month later, after a grand jury declined to indict him; his lawyer had said he wasn't a threat to society.
And Donte Jamar Sims, 22, of Charlotte, N.C., was sentenced to six months in June after pleading guilty to threatening the life of the president; he had tweeted "Ima assassinate president Obama this evening!"
Constitutional scholars say the legal question these cases raise is an old one: When does disturbing speech amount to a true threat? Eugene Volokh, a First Amendment expert at University of California, Los Angeles, said Mr. Carter could make the case that his comments "could reasonably be understood as a joke or hyperbole" and thus amount to protected speech. He also could argue his post was too generalhe didn't identify a school, for instanceto be considered a true threat, Mr. Volokh said.
The prosecutor in Mr. Carter's case, Comal County District Attorney Jennifer Tharp, declined to comment.
But Jonathan Blodgett, the Essex County district attorney who oversaw the Massachusetts case, defended his office's actions. "It's easy for some to dismiss a Facebook post or a text as a joke," he said in an email, adding that Mr. D'Ambrosio's Facebook post triggered dozens of reports, from concerned students to school officials.
Several Facebook users also reported Mr. Carter's comments to the social-media company and authorities, according to Mr. Friedman, his lawyer.
For Mr. Carter's family, the cases illustrate the naivet of teens who communicate online as they do in private, without considering the ramifications. "When he was arrested, he said, 'Wow, I guess what you say on Facebook really does matter,' " said Jennifer Carter, his mother. "He had no comprehension, as most teens don't, that what they're saying on the Internet isn't just being viewed by them and the people who know them."
Ms. Carter said police records and the criminal indictment of her son omit a crucial detail: According to Mr. Carter, he later posted "j/k," shorthand for "just kidding," during the Facebook conversation.
The district attorney's office hasn't turned over the full conversation, which Facebook removed. The company didn't respond to a request for comment.
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The following 1 user thanked M0d for this useful post:
Jamy (07-08-2013)
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This video sums up my views entirely on the subject.
This is absolutely moronic. Period.
This is absolutely moronic. Period.
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ok ok, ive seen this same article posted on 3 different occasions, with all different subjects. please just get rid of this, i want some new news for once.
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In the defense of the people who didn't take it as a joke, this happened only a couple months after the Sandy Hook shooting.
And yeah this happened five months ago.
And yeah this happened five months ago.
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i think its time to move out of the U.S
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HarmfulMushroom wrote In the defense of the people who didn't take it as a joke, this happened only a couple months after the Sandy Hook shooting.
And yeah this happened five months ago.
I don't agree with people who use that as an argument for why it warrants jail time.
That's implying that if he said it a year after it wouldn't be as offensive, or even a year before the Sandy Hook shooting occurred.
It should be equally offensive all the time.
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Sith wroteHarmfulMushroom wrote In the defense of the people who didn't take it as a joke, this happened only a couple months after the Sandy Hook shooting.
And yeah this happened five months ago.
I don't agree with people who use that as an argument for why it warrants jail time.
That's implying that if he said it a year after it wouldn't be as offensive, or even a year before the Sandy Hook shooting occurred.
It should be equally offensive all the time.
I kind of worded that poorly.. I didn't mean to take their side in this as I don't at all agree with the punishment, I meant it as more of what probably drew them to go to such extremes with this joke. And yeah, I also agree with you that it shouldn't only become a bad thing to make those jokes when a tragedy happens.
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that isnt right of what he posted, deserves jail time
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Physics_n_Flex wrote that isnt right of what he posted, deserves jail time
Really?
He deserves jail time for telling a joke to a friend in what is supposed to be a private conversation?
I guess everyone deserves jail time then because anything can be offensive to anyone.
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Hey, Eddie Murphy made a really offensive joke about Gay people, I think he deserves jail time for it.
Would you agree to that logic?
I don't think anyone would.
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He didn't deserve it, but another form of consequence should have happened. Nothing that much to scale.
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