Judge Refuses To Dismiss League of Legends Terrorist Threat Case
- Thread starter Andy Chalk
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I am sorry, but this is not a case of being stupid, this is a case of huge prosecutorial overreach. It is obvious to the general person, given the context the comments where made in, that there was no serious intent on Mr. Carter's part. Authorities, as much as some would like, are not supposed to be able to jail you for 8 years for a joke. Even jokes about shooting up a school, even jokes about bombing a plane.Objectable said:
I know I'm late to the conversation, but just as a point: If he does get punished for this then that sets a legal precedent, and a dangerous one. He said something stupid, yes, but investigation either has or would prove he was not going to go through with it. For a threat to merit punishment, it has to be credible and this one really isn't. You may not approve of his actions, but punishing him stands to harm many more people over a much longer period of time than letting him off with a stern warning. And believe it or not, because of the increasingly interconnected nature of the world, this would probably affect you regardless.Chaosritter said:
He didn't plan shit. Someone said he was crazy, and he replied sarcastically, oh the horror. Seriously, I 100% hope you're next.Zachary Amaranth said:
It's terrible to see some kid who said something stupid get made an example of. That judge is fucked up. He should get time served and it should end there. I have read some of the comments here and all I have to say is, how disconnected from reality can you be? Ruining a persons life is worth it because Facebook is involved, he deserves it? He thought he was doing something stupid, having a bit of fun. The thing is, he clearly felt what he was doing was harmless. Everyone here should just not leave there house for fear of doing something harmless and going to jail for it, as it seems that the interpretation of harm can be changed on the fly for any situation.
Shit call the cops on Brotha Lynch Hung then. A horrorcore album trilogy filled with confessions of murder and woman abuse. In the meantime we can round up everyone who threatened to fuck our mothers, because more often than not, it would be rape.
I kind of want to see a large group pop up on facebook making such empty threats just to watch the system try to convict them all.
EDIT: Oh yeah, didn't EMINEM just threaten to take 7 kids from Columbine and take various firearms to them on a track that has millions of views on Youtube? Pretty sure he's fine.
I kind of want to see a large group pop up on facebook making such empty threats just to watch the system try to convict them all.
EDIT: Oh yeah, didn't EMINEM just threaten to take 7 kids from Columbine and take various firearms to them on a track that has millions of views on Youtube? Pretty sure he's fine.
Oh this is Comal county? He's boned. The police over there don't smile. I heard they had their color stolen from them. D:
More seriously though, people are right to look at this kid for making that kind of comment. Therefore, locking him in prison and forgetting about him is the wrong way to go about examining his behavior.
More seriously though, people are right to look at this kid for making that kind of comment. Therefore, locking him in prison and forgetting about him is the wrong way to go about examining his behavior.
i just hope this guy gets compensation for this whole mess, i mean he spent weeks in solitary confinement so that he wouldn't kill himself over this.
i think penny arcade said it best in their comic about this http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2013/07/08
honestly if a joke in incredibly poor taste can be misinterpreted as a terrorist threat then where does it end.
League of legends players can be pretty vile but i would still put them on the low spectrum in terms of saying stupid and offensive crap
i think penny arcade said it best in their comic about this http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2013/07/08
honestly if a joke in incredibly poor taste can be misinterpreted as a terrorist threat then where does it end.
League of legends players can be pretty vile but i would still put them on the low spectrum in terms of saying stupid and offensive crap
Abso-fucking-lutely true. I think at the most Facebook should have contacted him about his behavior or banned his account. People that are crying for some example to be made are just mindless drones doing exactly what the system wants them to do. The fact that some judge is deciding to proceed with this case is sickening, and the fact this kid could get the same amount of time a child rapist can is even more sickening. The whole American legal system is a corrupt piece of shit used for nothing more the the gain of revenue for the state and the federal government, at our expense.WWmelb said:
If you want to fight the REAL threat of REAL school shootings fight the gun lobby and don't waste anyones time fighting freedom of speech and expression. This is just a dumb by product of a really important issue and demeans actual victims when this shit gets brought to trial.Eppy (Bored) said:
Contrary to at least a few posts I've read, not only do I think he shouldn't be convicted, I think the comment was not at all edgy, offensive, wrong, or anything else worthy of condemnation, and furthermore, was clearly sarcasm, and I still cannot believe, even in the US, that people are taking action against him for such a TRIVIAL thing. Grow up America(n legal system).
Don't be stupid in USA. That's what you should have said.Objectable said:
I can say exactly what he said in an online game and NOTHING is going to happen to me, because I don't live anywhere near that godforsaken country. The most that could've happened is a ban/suspension from the game itself, not a trial and/or a prison sentence.
This is all about paranoia + hysteria, when it comes to school shootings and terrorist threats no country is more paranoid/hysterical than USA.
"Home of the brave and land of the free" apparently, scared shitless by a child who made a joke online. Despite zero evidence being found in his home, despite a lack of any motive being found for actually carrying out his joke, they basically ruined his entire life. It's over for him.
If I was that kid & his family, as soon as all this was over I would get the fuck out of America and never look back.
8 years for a single joke? Sheesh, that's more than third of the "life sentence" Anders Breivik got for shooting 77 people in Norway. I googled what you have to do in Finland to get 8 year sentence and the results were horrible, stuff like kidnapping and raping a 11-year-old.
Not saying that is ideal either - especially when 8 years in Finnish jail is usually reduced to 2-4 years for being first timer of "good behaviour" - but I still can't understand what's the point of having such extreme penalties in USA.
Edit: Maybe a closer example would be the Finnish teen who made a Counter-Strike map that looked like his school and added NPC's with the names of his teachers. This happened right after the first and biggest school shooting in Finland so the police was super strict about kids simulating mass shootings.
The teen spent a single night in jail, went to a few visits to psychiatrist and got a written warning from the police.
Not saying that is ideal either - especially when 8 years in Finnish jail is usually reduced to 2-4 years for being first timer of "good behaviour" - but I still can't understand what's the point of having such extreme penalties in USA.
Edit: Maybe a closer example would be the Finnish teen who made a Counter-Strike map that looked like his school and added NPC's with the names of his teachers. This happened right after the first and biggest school shooting in Finland so the police was super strict about kids simulating mass shootings.
The teen spent a single night in jail, went to a few visits to psychiatrist and got a written warning from the police.
I'm very conflicted on this
On the one hand, I don't feel like this is a failure of the justice system, as many other people feel it is. There is a reason uttering threats is illegal, and this definitely counts as a threat imo; this is beyond tasteless, and the fact that it was a joke doesn't excuse it all in my opinion.
However, on the other end, I do feel its an excellent illustration of how the penal system is such a goddamn mess; the fact that there's no (adequate) separation in the prison populations is what leads to this pandemic of mental illness, recidivism, and gang membership. While the fact that he broke the law in making the threat should be taken seriously, the fact that no one could put some human judgement into this and quickly identify whether or not he's mentally unstable, and whether or not the consequences (not just him, to society too; unnecessarily traumatizing, mentally destroying, and permanently branding someone who's likely not a major threat to the public hurts the community as much as an individual, since now the community has to deal with that individual) were fitting with the individual, is extremely worrying.
On the one hand, I don't feel like this is a failure of the justice system, as many other people feel it is. There is a reason uttering threats is illegal, and this definitely counts as a threat imo; this is beyond tasteless, and the fact that it was a joke doesn't excuse it all in my opinion.
However, on the other end, I do feel its an excellent illustration of how the penal system is such a goddamn mess; the fact that there's no (adequate) separation in the prison populations is what leads to this pandemic of mental illness, recidivism, and gang membership. While the fact that he broke the law in making the threat should be taken seriously, the fact that no one could put some human judgement into this and quickly identify whether or not he's mentally unstable, and whether or not the consequences (not just him, to society too; unnecessarily traumatizing, mentally destroying, and permanently branding someone who's likely not a major threat to the public hurts the community as much as an individual, since now the community has to deal with that individual) were fitting with the individual, is extremely worrying.
I honestly don't know what the fuck you people are talking about when you say he deserves anything for this.
It's a very clearly over the top joke, it wasn't even directed at anyone. Honestly it wouldn't be out of place in a talk with my friends, not that anyone would take it seriously.
"A terroristic threat?" That would be a very fine point if it were actually a threat and not very obviously a joke.
I'm not even going into whether the law is correct, according to the law the kid shouldn't be punished. The line between a joke and a threat can be fine but in this case it very, very clearly isn't.
A threat is not a joke, a joke is not a threat, and this was obviously in the latter category, so on what basis is he being punished?
A tasteless joke is not a crime, a violent threat is a crime, but this was obviously a tasteless joke.
Can someone please explain if I'm missing something because this seems like the judge doesn't quite understand the concept of fucking categories. As in, what this kid did is not actually illegal under the law. I MUST be missing something, the united states justice system cannot actually be this retarded.
The fact that what he said could possibly without context be interpreted as a crime doesn't mean that he actually committed a crime.
So my primary problem is that he's being prosecuted for something anyone with a third of a brain could easily see he didn't actually do.
It's a very clearly over the top joke, it wasn't even directed at anyone. Honestly it wouldn't be out of place in a talk with my friends, not that anyone would take it seriously.
"A terroristic threat?" That would be a very fine point if it were actually a threat and not very obviously a joke.
I'm not even going into whether the law is correct, according to the law the kid shouldn't be punished. The line between a joke and a threat can be fine but in this case it very, very clearly isn't.
A threat is not a joke, a joke is not a threat, and this was obviously in the latter category, so on what basis is he being punished?
A tasteless joke is not a crime, a violent threat is a crime, but this was obviously a tasteless joke.
Can someone please explain if I'm missing something because this seems like the judge doesn't quite understand the concept of fucking categories. As in, what this kid did is not actually illegal under the law. I MUST be missing something, the united states justice system cannot actually be this retarded.
The fact that what he said could possibly without context be interpreted as a crime doesn't mean that he actually committed a crime.
So my primary problem is that he's being prosecuted for something anyone with a third of a brain could easily see he didn't actually do.
Oh God, if that kid would have been in the US, he'd have been given the firing squad immediately.A said:
"SEE JUDGE!!! HE CLEARLY HAD INTENT!!!!!" "I agree. We'll convict him on the crimes he was clearly planning to do, so...about 80 murders, give him the death penalty, done. NEXT!"
I know, I know, hyperbole. But still, that kid would have been given a massive sentence for that, even though no crime was yet committed yet.