Online Presidential Threat is Considered Free Speech
Earlier this week, the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a Southern California man’s conviction for the threats he made in 2008 against Barack Obama in an online chat room. The court held that even though Walter Bagdasarian’s racist rant was “particularly repugnant”…as it suggested that Obama “will have a 50 cal in the head soon” and stated that someone should “shoot the [racist slur]”…it was protected as free speech since a “reasonable” person would not have taken his threat seriously in an online chat room at 1a.m.
In its 2-1 decision, the court ruled that Bagdasarian didn’t actually threaten to shoot Obama but rather predicted it. The judges didn’t believe that this type of prediction was subject to the federal statute that prohibited threats to kill, kidnap or do bodily harm to a major presidential candidate.
Bagdasarian claims he was drunk at the time he posted his comments.
