Court: Super Bowl massacre letters weren't threats (because of corporations/people distinction)
Bob Egelko, SF Chronicle
A man who sent letters to news media about his plans for a massacre at the 2008 Super Bowl in Arizona should not have been convicted of mailing threatening communications because the law covers threats addressed to people, not corporations, a federal appeals court in San Francisco ruled Friday.
Kurt Havelock, apparently angered at being denied a liquor license for his nightclub in Tempe, Ariz., mailed a disjointed "manifesto" to news outlets and music websites the day of the game in February 2008. He denounced the evils of society and said he planned to "shed the blood of the innocent" and then give up his own life.
Havelock, 36, drove to the stadium in Glendale with a semiautomatic rifle and 200 pounds of ammunition, but had a change of heart and turned himself in. He was convicted of six charges, one for each of his letters, and served a sentence of a year and a day in prison.
In a 9-2 ruling Friday, the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the federal law used to prosecute Havelock applied only to those who used the mail to make direct threats against people.
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/01/06/BABT1MLUS2.DTL
= new reply since forum marked as read
Special Achievement Division.
P.S. Be on the lookout for the Ninth Annual Rocktivity DU/LBN "You Call This NEWS?" Awards next week!
rockivity
