Judge Refuses To Dismiss League of Legends Terrorist Threat Case

[Baresark]

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.

 

[EHKOS]

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.

 

[wulf3n]

It's fascinating to see Americans so easily give up their rights in the name of "Security". I wonder how many more will be relinquished before the majority realise it's too late.

 

[crimson5pheonix]

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.

 

[heroicbob]

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

 

[Foolery]

8 years is fucking overkill. I could rob a convenience store at gunpoint and only get 4, here in Canada. To everyone saying he's getting what he deserves, just stop. This isn't about proper justice, it's about making an example out of him.

 

[quiet_samurai]

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Seriously?

This is the BIGGEST joke of a trial that i have heard of in a long time. All the people saying he is a horrible person, and deserves some punishment are suffering some serious delusions of grandeur and a hardcore superiority complex.

I challenge every single person with this mindset to look back through their lives and tell me unequivocally that they have NEVER made a SINGLE offensive or tasteless comment in their whole lives. And i will no doubt call you a liar. One bad taste joke doesn't make you a horrible or shit person.


I know i've uttered plenty of tasteless jokes in my life, as have every single person i know, including my mother. In public, in private, doesn't matter one iota. None of us deserve 8 years in prison.

"I'm going to shoot up a school and eat their still beating hearts" is obviously bad taste humor, no doubt, but i've said and heard worse.

To constitute a threat he really needs to have gone into some realistic detail about how/when/where this "school shooting" was going to happen, not some fantastical supervillain comment that he made for the lols.

Some uppity **** saw the post on his facebook and called the police. Who should have told her to fuck right off immediately, but the fear in Americans in strong in this day and age. When the overwhelming fear of the public starts making the general mindset that paranoid, you really need to step back and take a look at yourselves.

This angers me beyond belief, moreso that the general public seem to not give a shit than the fact he was arrested in the first place.

And people who are saying he's getting what he deserved, or that it's "just a little harsh" i seriously hope you make an off the wall comment one day and get put through what this poor kid is going through, so you can cry about the injustice. I'll come visit you in prison with your comments you made here.

Finally, No , he doesn't even deserve to be punched in the face. He deserves to be compensated for this bullshit, released and have all records of this expunged.

Welcome to new police-state USA. Fight it now or enjoy it for a long long time to come.

ps. may not make much sense. christmas ranting for the win.

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.

 

[Scorpid]

On the one hand, being prosecuted for a comment made on an online game is ridiculous. On the other...those comments go beyond tasteless, and just adding "jk, lol" to the end of something that could be perceived easily as a threat doesn't make it not a threat.

I'm slightly siding with the teen, but only because jail time seems excessive. It's not because the teen is totally in the right, because he's not.

I'm going to disagree with you. Once you bring up "eating their still-beating hearts" you're clearly Crossing The Line Twice; the assertion is obviously ridiculous and you sound like a movie villain. That's the joke. This is and always will be a case of some asshole in a position of power trying to make an example of an innocent kid who did nothing - absolutely nothing - wrong. Comedy is not a crime.

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.

 

[MeChaNiZ3D]

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).

 

[Eddie451]

Every time I hear about this case I get pissed off. No idiot in their right mind can say this kid is a terrorist. He made a dumb sarcastic remark and gets fucking jail time for it. What the fuck is wrong with this country.

 

[Yuuki]

And this is why you shouldn't be stupid.
Don't be stupid people.

Don't be stupid in USA. That's what you should have 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.

 

[A'tuin]

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.

 

[MoltenSilver]

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.

 

[Use_Imagination_here]

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.

 

[aegix drakan_v1legacy]

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.

Oh God, if that kid would have been in the US, he'd have been given the firing squad immediately.

"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.

 

[Strazdas]

And this is why you shouldn't be stupid.
Don't be stupid people.

I agree, the judge should have been less stupid.

Serves that little shit right. Tasteless jokes in private are one thing, tasteless jokes on a platform that is known for ruining lifes is just stupid.

I guess whenever somone makes a Pun on the escapists we should jail him as well.

Good. Throw the little shit in prison, or rather, a damn padded cell. I mean, I'm all for freedom of speech and the GIFT, but still, saying shit like that deserves punishment. 8 years is harsh, but maybe next time he won't try to seem edgy and cool.

Yes, throw everyone who dares to make a joke on the internet in prison! Oh, wait, i used irony in this response, i might as well go and give myself up now for i am a wanted criminal!

Funny thing is, all these people crying about how he should be left alone would be doing the exact opposite, (I.E. "Why didn't they lock him up, he even said he was, who's stupid enough to ignore that on just a "jk, lol.") if he actually did go shoot up a school.

He never intended to go shoot up a school, nor he did it. He is being charged for a crime he did not commit nor ever intended to. Should i be charged for murder if i made a joke about "killing somone"?

There's "to soon to make a joke" (I.E. Making a joke about Paul Walker in Fast and Furious), and theres "Cops are still on the look out." (I.e. Murder happens in my neighborhood, and I say "I'm on to the next one!")

There is no "too soon", only people who think their lack of sense of humour is grounds for punishing others.

He deserves the stress and fear he'll probably go through during the trial but not jail, the best thing would be to let the trial go through and when the jury says guilty the judge gives him all 8 years says jk lol and then gives him some community service.

So, then, by this logic we should put the judge on trial for making stupid "jokes" in public. But no, you want double standards, punish lol players, praise others acting the same.

You're one of those people who think that if someone makes a suicide note or threat, that they're just trying to get attention or "joking" aren't you?

If the note itself states that it is a joke - yes it is a joke.

Okay... let's put his comments into a different arena:

Imagine an 18-year-old speaking on his speaker phone outside of his house whilest there is a crowd gathered and he says, out load, for all the people to hear (right after a recent school shooting) "I'm going to shoot up a school full of kids... lol... just kidding." Yeah, no, someone would likely punch his lights out before he got to the "j" in "just kidding".

Then the person punching "his lights out" is the one deserving the jailtime.

I think six months serving as after-school janitor sounds just about right.

Punishment well deserved, but prison is just stupid.

If you mean that what the Judge should do then yes, punishment well deserved. The kid on the other hand should have been compensated for being mistreated.

what he said was unlawful

No, it was not. Comedy is not unlawful.

The victim blaming is strong in this thread.
Fuck people.

Careful. Here at the escapist we got a double standart that we can say anything about people in the news report but as soon as you say something about people here your in for a ban.

The victim in this case being?

One Justin Carter

Some things you can't joke about The frivolous use of the word rape, for example.

No, there are no things you cant joke about.
Also, may i direct you to the phenomenon of "Sloth rapists"?

You can't say something like that and expect nothing to happen... He deserves everything he gets and I hope that other bottom-feeders who have the same kind of reactions learn a lesson from this...

What the kid deserves is public apology and compensation of mistreatment. What he gets are a bunch of idiots treating him like a high class criminal for making a joke.

It would be nice to have a legal example of consequences for threats online. Joke or not.

It would be horrific to have a precedent of punishing people legally for jokes. Thats outright banning of comedy you got there.

More like, you can not yell fire in a crowded theater. As I said, we might have freedom of speech, but that does not mean we can say whatever we want without consequences.

But you can. Actually i did once. We were watching a movie when suddenly the electricity cut out and only the emergency exit lights remained on as they were on battery power. I made a joke about everyone burning down now, everyone laughed and noone got hurt. So yes, i yelled fire in the crowded theater and nothing came of it. Thats called making a joke.

How stupid do you have to be to "joke" about shooting up a school when several schools were recently shot up in a country that was already insanely paranoid about this type of shit. I say the gene pool will be better off if this kid spends some more time behind bars.

Less stupid than to take his joke as a real threat.

"The kid was obviously making a joke"
I DONT CARE,

And hats why we have laws, so people who only care about thier personal ideas do not dictate the society. Mainly so you cant just say i dont care so lets punish him. You are WRONG not to care.

Again, you can't just say shit like that and expect to get away with it...
no matter how many "lol" or "jk" you put on the end...
Serious threats deserve serious consequences

Yes, you can, and you should, because jokes and sarcasm should never feel threatened by though police.
Seriuos threats deserve seriuos consequences, anyone with a workign braincell would be able to see that this threat was not seriuos.

what happened to that first amendment??

Sorry, only the second ammendment exists in US.

The Wild West days of the internet will come to an end soon. And why the charges may be extreme and unwarranted in this case I think this highlights how the days of not being accountable for what you do online are coming to an end.

Yes, we should all delebrate as they ban speech and remove our ability to make comedy, for we are getting more "Civilized".

Words do not hurt people and using words is not a crime under any circumstances, end of discussion. No prison sentence, no slap on the wrist, nothing. When something actually happens and someone gets hurt, then you can talk about the "justice" that's backed with the iron fist of the law and the iron chains of the prisons.

Anything less, and you're effectively advocating for a violent response to a nonviolent action, making you just as bad as, if not worse than those you condemn and invalidating your position outright.

I think by the end of it the guy should be suing the state back because it was their completely ludicrous actions that has lead him to being repeatedly raped and mutilated for MONTHS. There already was a violent response. And the victim is still being charged for not doing anything unlawful.

Was the ramifications of what this idiot said a bit extreme?

Yes.

Does that mean he should get a slap on the wrist? Should we throw personal accountability and responsibility out the window so people can feel better about the terrible shit they say on the internet?

No.

What you say has consequences, think about that the next time you threaten people, even in jest.

Its funny how you consider it "a bit extreme" when it was probably the overreaction of a decade.
ANd no, he should not get a slap on a wrist, he should get a compensations for damages done to him. We should not throw personal accountability away, we should hold the police and now the judge responsible for their actions.
Maybe next time they will think before they throw people in prison for sarcasm.

Also, if this kid is actually getting his ass kicked in jail (not prison, he hasn't been convicted of anything) then he's simply an asshole that still hasn't learned to shut his mouth and sucks at making friends.

I guess being repeatedly raped and tortured to the point of being put on suicide watch qualifies as "sucks at making friends" right?

Giving him a couple of hundred hours of community service seems way more reasonable. People pleading for jailtime are, in my opinion, off their rockers.

and people who think a kid that was already repeatedly raped deserves more punishment for making a joke are not off their rockers?

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.

I think you need to look up a legal definition of a threat. Its right there on page 6 of this very own thread.
And what he did was not even tasteless, but we will have this discussion after at least half the people on this board realize he is the victim.

 

[kuolonen]

Serious threat. Serious threat. Are you people high? "I'm going to go shoot up a school full of kids and eat their still-beating hearts," [sic] is not a serious threat.

If I say "I will go to nearest school, kill all the kids in there and make a guitar strings out of their strips of flesh", that is not a serious that as should be obvious to anyone, even for a person with Canadian or U.S. disability.

Here, an example of a legitimate, serious threat.: "I will go to school x, on date of xx.xx.20xx and I will kill teachers named a,b,c and d. I have a gun from my dads gun cabinet. I will kill all the kids of class y. I will kill myself after."
Add pictures of myself on firing range and targets with photocopied pictures of the named teachers faces.

Can you see the difference?

 

[NezumiiroKitsune]

Spoiler to mask sensitive material.

His mistake was saying it too someone publicly, and moreso than this, establishing the portent for a school shooting, which the US has no sense of humour for. You could say, rightly so. If he'd said

Spoiler

"I'm going to flay your first born and eat their still beating heart lol jk"

he'd have probably gotten away with it, because it's clearly nonsensical ranting. Extreme bravado to make a ludicrous point, that no one would take seriously. Maybe if he was saying that to someone, and they took offense, they could press charges, but I feel confident in saying the charges wouldn't be related to terrorism.

I, and many of us, have said arguably significantly more vile and shocking things, either for the comedic value or just to let vent a little. I certainly think it's been taken too far. That as he's a gamer who "threatened" a school shooting, inside of a game's post-game chat, really compounds how screwed he is, however.