Full 9th Circuit Vacates Convictions for Aborted Super Bowl Plot
Full 9th Circuit Vacates Convictions for Aborted Super Bowl Plot
(CN) - An Arizona man did not commit a crime when he mailed a manifesto detailing his plot to kill fans at the 2008 Super Bowl to various media outlets, a full panel of the 9th Circuit ruled Friday.
Distressed over a business failure in 2008, Kurt Havelock bought an AR-15 assault rifle and mailed his "fractured meditation on the purported evils of American society" to The New York Times, The Associated Press and others. The letters laid out his plan to shoot fans as they walked into the Glendale, Ariz., football stadium for Super Bowl XLII.
Havelock changed his mind in the parking lot, however, and admitted his plans to police.
Havelock was convicted for mailing threatening communications and sentenced to a year in prison plus additional time on probation, but the 9th Circuit reversed on appeal. The three-judge panel found that Havelock had not committed a crime because the manifesto had been addressed to corporations, not to specific people. After agreeing to convene a full, 11-judge panel to reconsider the issue, the San Francisco-based federal appeals court that panel upheld Havelock's acquittal.
Titled "Karma Leveller: Bad Thoughts on a Beautiful Day," the six-page "econo-political" manifesto "was, in equal parts, a fractured meditation on the purported evils of American society and a past-tense account of the experiences, beliefs, and convictions that set off his anticipated 'econopolitical confrontation,'" according to the ruling.
http://www.courthousenews.com/2012/01/06/42834.htm
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