Idiots Arrest Idiot for Saying Something Idiotic on FB (TX)

[Flagg]

The Daily Caller

Texas teen makes violent joke during video game, is jailed for months

A Texas teenager who has been in jail since March faces an eight-year prison sentence because of a threatening joke he made while playing an online video game.

In February, Justin Carter was playing “League of Legends” — an online, multiplayer fantasy game — when another player wrote a comment calling him insane. Carter’s response, which he now deeply regrets, was intended as joke.

“He replied ‘Oh yeah, I’m real messed up in the head, I’m going to go shoot up a school full of kids and eat their still, beating hearts,’ and the next two lines were lol and jk,” said Jack Carter, Justin’s father, in a statement to a local news channel.

The statements “lol” and “jk” — meaning “laughing out loud” and “just kidding” — indicate that Justin’s statement was entirely sarcastic, said his father.

But a Canadian woman who saw the post looked up Carter’s Austin address, determined that it was near an elementary school, and called the police. Carter was arrested one month later, and has been in jail ever since. He recently celebrated his 19th birthday behind bars.

Authorities charged him with making a terrorist threat. If convicted, he will face eight years in prison.

“These people are serious. They really want my son to go away to jail for a sarcastic comment that he made,” said the elder Carter.

Authorities noted that recent school shootings like the one in Newtown, Connecticut have caused them to evaluate all potential threats seriously. Newtown was still fresh in their minds at the time of Carter’s arrest.

“In light of recent situations, statements such as the one Justin made are taken seriously,” said an Austin police detective in a statement.

Carter’s father said his son didn’t follow the news at all.

“Justin was the kind of kid who didn’t read the newspaper,” said Jack Carter. “He didn’t watch television. He wasn’t aware of current events. These kids, they don’t realize what they’re doing. They don’t understand the implications. They don’t understand.”

Carter’s parents have launched a change.org petition to convince Texas Attorney General Greg Abbot to release their son.

“Release Justin Carter from jail,” the petition reads. “Too many teenagers are being arrested, jailed and having their lives forever altered because of anti-terrorism laws and investigations that impede their 1st Amendment right to freedom of speech.”

A hearing to review Carter’s case is scheduled for July 1.

Have I mentioned that we need Federal troops to occupy Texas? Not that this is a solely Texas issue as I hope the woman in Canada gets the shit sued out of her for slander, but come the fuck on Texas. Texas: Open Carry is legal, but don't make bad jokes!

[Ralin]

I had a roommate in college who made a similar joke about Bush when he was a teenager. All he got was a talking to by the Secret Service and a ban from events with the president.

[Flagg]

I have said so much worse in such greater detail and not had anything happen whatsoever. I didn't even include the "lol, jk" part.

But this is a clear violation of the first amendment and I fully expect Texas will have to pay out the ass for this. So will the Canadian if there's any justice as what she did was malicious.

[Spekio]

I'll never understand US' approach to "terrorism". Seems easy to abuse as this situation demonstrates. And yet, idiots here seems as something desirable, and try to emulate it.

[Zaune]

Hmmm. Just to be fair to the police involved, I wonder if it isn't possible that there's more to this than an off-the-cuff remark. I can see the justification for a couple of officers stopping by his house to impart a few words of advice on the subject of not shooting his mouth off, creeping people out and making them panic and call the cops, but maybe they found something else as well.

[Flagg]

Here is a petition calling for this morons release. I signed it and would encourage others who give a fuck about this to sign it too. It's not about this dumbass, or about the right to say insanely dumb shit on the internet, it's about freedom of speech and overbearing law enforcement.

[General Zod]

Hmmm. Just to be fair to the police involved, I wonder if it isn't possible that there's more to this than an off-the-cuff remark. I can see the justification for a couple of officers stopping by his house to impart a few words of advice on the subject of not shooting his mouth off, creeping people out and making them panic and call the cops, but maybe they found something else as well.

Honestly? It's Texas. The fact that the guy lives near a school is all the justification they need.

[Flagg]

I'll never understand US' approach to "terrorism". Seems easy to abuse as this situation demonstrates. And yet, idiots here seems as something desirable, and try to emulate it.

This falls under "terroristic threats" not terrorism as in 9/11. IIRC the laws are pretty old and pertain to specifically seeking to intimidate people with violent threats that are serious.

[Spekio]

I did not know there was such a distinction. Is it related to the "Intent to commit a crime" I sometimes see in US' police procedurals?

The implications of this are frightening, to put it mildly. Some innocuous comment uttered in a momment of irritation could mean the literal destruction of a life.

[Flagg]

I did not know there was such a distinction. Is it related to the "Intent to commit a crime" I sometimes see in US' police procedurals?

The implications of this are frightening, to put it mildly. Some innocuous comment uttered in a momment of irritation could mean the literal destruction of a life.

I think KS can explain it in more and better detail than I can, but I think you've got it more or less correct except that it has to be a serious threat, not something ending with "lol, jk".

[Ralin]

I think KS can explain it in more and better detail than I can, but I think you've got it more or less correct except that it has to be a serious threat, not something ending with "lol, jk".

Not that this isn't stupid, but how exactly is it different from saying "I've got a bomb, haha I'm kidding" at an airport? I'd always understood that the law had zero sense of humor about this sort of thing. This is terrible, but it's not something that surprises me.

[Flagg]

I think KS can explain it in more and better detail than I can, but I think you've got it more or less correct except that it has to be a serious threat, not something ending with "lol, jk".

Not that this isn't stupid, but how exactly is it different from saying "I've got a bomb, haha I'm kidding" at an airport? I'd always understood that the law had zero sense of humor about this sort of thing. This is terrible, but it's not something that surprises me.

It's different in that at an aitport it's an immediate concern. I don't think people should be arrested for that either, just kicked out of the airport, but that's the way it is. Saying something dumb on the internet followed by "lol jk" and then being arrested a month later is a bit different.

[Broomstick]

If he was such an imminent threat why did they wait a month to arrest him?

[Meest]

How did the Canadian woman find him and how did they get the logs or whatever to prove what he said? Wonder if they were part of a ranked team and knew each other somewhat, LoL is pretty up high in the young wannabe troll population, I've seen worse stuff said in practice games.

[Flagg]

How did the Canadian woman find him and how did they get the logs or whatever to prove what he said? Wonder if they were part of a ranked team and knew each other somewhat, LoL is pretty up high in the young wannabe troll population, I've seen worse stuff said in practice games.

Not bragging at all, but I've said worse without the "lol jk" part. Not proud of it either, but I can't imagine getting hauled off to jail for it. It's ridiculous, especially when it's so over the top not serious.

[Saxtonite]

.....This is some bullshit.

Didn't some guy make a joke about having an ICBM in his dorm room and the police had to arrest him or something? They all laughed at it though....

[TheFeniX]

I was going to post this because the insanity is out there for a place like Austin. The "Hurt feelings" brigade knows no boundaries. Getting a stern talking to for being an idiot is out there enough. The possibility of 8 years in prison for raising some lady's heart-rate a couple ticks is disgusting. Some dumb-shit I knew who went to school in Austin got 6 months for shooting an illegal firearm at someone when he was already on probation for another felony.

[Kamakazie Sith]

I did not know there was such a distinction. Is it related to the "Intent to commit a crime" I sometimes see in US' police procedurals?

The implications of this are frightening, to put it mildly. Some innocuous comment uttered in a momment of irritation could mean the literal destruction of a life.

I think KS can explain it in more and better detail than I can, but I think you've got it more or less correct except that it has to be a serious threat, not something ending with "lol, jk".

Pretty much. These kind of overreactions always happen post some traumatic incident. It's pretty clear that the "threat" was a joke and not meant to be taken seriously. These laws were created so that law enforcement had the ability to take down potential spree shooters. The problem is there isn't a standard on what is considered a threat. Personally, if I were to make an arrest for this offense it would require a threat combined with method. Not "I'm going to kill you!" something like "I'm going to get a gun and kill you" and of course context would play a role. I wouldn't hold statements made about or while playing a video game to the same degree as a spontaneous FB statement made without any prompting and in either case more investigation would be necessary.

In this case he clearly said he was just kidding and it was made because another poster engaged him and said "you're insane". So, yeah this is a bone headed move by law enforcement and perfectly demonstrates why laws need to be clearly defined.

Here's an example of Utah's law

76-5-107. Threat of violence -- Penalty.
(1) A person commits a threat of violence if the person threatens to commit any offense involving bodily injury, death, or substantial property damage, and acts with intent to place a person in fear of imminent serious bodily injury, substantial bodily injury, or death.
(2) A violation of this section is a class B misdemeanor.
(3) It is not a defense under this section that the person did not attempt to or was incapable of carrying out the threat.
(4) A threat under this section may be express or implied.
(5) A person who commits an offense under this section is subject to punishment for that offense, in addition to any other offense committed, including the carrying out of the threatened act.
(6) In addition to any other penalty authorized by law, a court shall order any person convicted of any violation of this section to reimburse any federal, state, or local unit of government, or any private business, organization, individual, or entity for all expenses and losses incurred in responding to the violation, unless the court states on the record the reasons why the reimbursement would be inappropriate.

I wonder why Texas has such a harsher penalty. A class B misdemeanor in this state usually does not result in jail time let alone prison.

[TheFeniX]

In Texas, it varies from a Class B misdemeanor up to a felony charge:

Sec. 22.07. TERRORISTIC THREAT. (a) A person commits an offense if he threatens to commit any offense involving violence to any person or property with intent to:

(1) cause a reaction of any type to his threat by an official or volunteer agency organized to deal with emergencies;

(2) place any person in fear of imminent serious bodily injury;

(3) prevent or interrupt the occupation or use of a building, room, place of assembly, place to which the public has access, place of employment or occupation, aircraft, automobile, or other form of conveyance, or other public place;

(4) cause impairment or interruption of public communications, public transportation, public water, gas, or power supply or other public service;

(5) place the public or a substantial group of the public in fear of serious bodily injury; or

(6) influence the conduct or activities of a branch or agency of the federal government, the state, or a political subdivision of the state.

(b) An offense under Subsection (a)(1) is a Class B misdemeanor.

(c) An offense under Subsection (a)(2) is a Class B misdemeanor, except that the offense is a Class A misdemeanor if the offense:

(1) is committed against a member of the person's family or household or otherwise constitutes family violence; or

(2) is committed against a public servant.

(d) An offense under Subsection (a)(3) is a Class A misdemeanor, unless the actor causes pecuniary loss of $1,500 or more to the owner of the building, room, place, or conveyance, in which event the offense is a state jail felony.

(e) An offense under Subsection (a)(4), (a)(5), or (a)(6) is a felony of the third degree.

I can only assume that since the "threat" was aimed at a school, they considered it a threat against a public institution and bumped it up to a felony charge.

The whole thing is a pretty sick joke and smacks of a prosecutor who is a huge shit-bag.

Given recent school-related violence, the threat was taken seriously, meaning Carter has been charged with making a "terroristic threat," a felony that carries up to an eight-year prison sentence. His bail: $500,000, reports NPR, an amount his family can't pay, thus keeping him behind bars.

"Without getting into the really nasty details, he's had concussions, black eyes, moved four times from base for his own protection," Jack elaborated on Justin's current condition in jail. "He's been put in solitary confinement, nude, for days on end because he's depressed. All of this is extremely traumatic to this kid. This is a horrible experience."

$500,000 bail. That's like $20,000 for each word he typed. Even if he had made a direct threat: that eight years is on the table for words is utter insanity. Kudos though because after his state prison experience, you might just turn him into an actual criminal.

But really, prosecutors flipping their shit over this goes farther back. This one is personally "hilarious" to me considering I made a few maps in Duke3D.

[Flagg]

This isn't even zero tolerance, it's like going out of your way to ruin someones life because you don't like their sense of humor. And there probably isn't, but I hope this kid can get some kind of recourse against the Canadian responsible for "reporting" this to the police in the first place.

[Channel72]

^ Why do you keep harping on this Canadian? She's likely just some over-reactive idiot, but she didn't do anything illegal by reporting him. People "report" meaningless crap all the time. The blame here falls entirely on Texas law enforcement and the justice system.

[Flagg]

^ Why do you keep harping on this Canadian? She's likely just some over-reactive idiot, but she didn't do anything illegal by reporting him. People "report" meaningless crap all the time. The blame here falls entirely on Texas law enforcement and the justice system.

Because it sounds like she was being a malicious bitch to me.

[TheHammer]

Have I mentioned that we need Federal troops to occupy Texas? Not that this is a solely Texas issue as I hope the woman in Canada gets the shit sued out of her for slander, but come the fuck on Texas. Texas: Open Carry is legal, but don't make bad jokes!

I agree that Texas authorities are acting without a grain of common sense, but I fail to see how the Canadian woman was wrong to report it, nor how she slandered the kid in any way. It's not as if she launched a one woman crusade to see him prosecuted, she merely reported on something that was of concern. Had investigators found other evidence beyond the statements made on FB, she would be hailed as a hero. I'm not seeing that they did or didn't find anything, but if they didn't then yes this seems to be a case of "ZERO TOLERANCE!" run amuck again and likely will be struck down once it makes its way through the courts. Just unfortunate that the kid has to suffer in the interim.

[Flagg]

Sorry, but she's either a crazy person or malicious bitch. Who else would look up your residences distance from a school before contacting law enforcement?

[Arthur_Tuxedo]

I bet law enforcement wishes they had this abuse of power in the gangsta rap era. Every hip hop artist would be in jail for making "terroristic threats".