Judge Refuses To Dismiss League of Legends Terrorist Threat Case

[Augustine]

It was well established fact for me for years now that many people don't actually believe in the freedom of speech. At least not in the way it was defined by the founders.

More along the lines: "you can say whatever you want as long as its safe / not disruptive/ not strongly offensive"...
What's left after this is utterly impotent and largely irrelevant as means of true expression.

 

[[REDACTED]]

Oh god... this thread is really fucking upsetting. The amount of people who seem to actually think that this kid deserves prison time for making a sarcastic joke is just.. what the fuck is wrong with you people? This is shameful on a level I'd never have expected from these forums.

 

[Elf Defiler Korgan]

Well I don't. I would think the supporters would not be pleased if a crass and juvenile comment they made in their youth (we have all done it) got them tried for TERRRORRRISM.

I agree with you Augustine.

 

[Icehearted]

Some things you can't joke about, some things are taken too seriously. Zero tolerance is a poor solution to a big problem here, a bit overkill, but again a threat like this was also stupid. Freedom of speech doesn't mean freedom of responsibility, and people need to realize the shit they write and say often does have consequences that even they themselves must experience. The frivolous use of the word rape, for example.

I can't help feeling like someone that probably realized this was an imbecile's idea of smack-talk is polishing their successful troll award for getting a guy jailed for bullshit...

Bullshit he shouldn't have said without realizing that, given recent events, was a deeper level of stupid that it already was.

 

[Tsun Tzu]

As Justice William J. Brennan, Jr. wrote in the 1989 Texas v. Johnson decision...

"if there is a bedrock principle underlying the First Amendment, it is that government may not prohibit the expression of an idea simply because society finds the idea offensive or disagreeable."

Some of you people being all right with this, or even calling for punishment, for a tasteless off-hand joke, are, in my opinion, much more deserving of evaluation than this poor sod.

As has been stated before, likening this sarcastic statement, made on facebook, to yelling "bomb" in an airport is just disingenuous and, frankly, a false comparison. If this guy had walked into a school and loudly proclaimed he'd shoot up the place, then you would have a point.

As it stands, this is a gross overreach of police power and a violation of numerous rights afforded to a U.S. citizen.

By all means, investigate the kid. But that is all. Going to these lengths, setting the bail so high, placing the kid in solitary, only after he was beaten by other inmates, and not holding a hearing for months, even as their investigation turned up absolutely nothing of value...

How can any of you defend something so reprehensible? Gods above, I certainly don't hope something so terrible should befall any of you lot.

Just to repost...since it's apparently still very relevant months after the fact.

Honestly, some of you people's comments on this matter disgust me, much, much more than any hyperbolic bullshit this kid could have said. Should feel fucking ashamed of yourselves for calling for any punishment beyond what the guy's already received.

Merry Fucking Christmas.

 

[not_you]

This kid needs to learn that it's just a game....

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...

But yeah... imprisonment may seem a little extreme....
Hell, if only the justice system had a special punishment set for people like this.... I mean, if they had to teach new players to the game or something as community service or W/e....
I mean, he'd have to be watched during the time... but meh...

TL,DR: He deserves it...

EDIT: PS: NOT AMERICAN!
So my understanding of "Freedom of speech/expression" is very limited...
So, yeah... I stand by my ruling...

 

[irok]

There is no right party , he should have said it and they shouldn't still be holding him , there are only reasons to drink. Really would have thought this would have been dismissed ages ago though but saying things on the internet is a crime now, I'm not overly thrilled about this at all.

 

[FoxKitsune]

What the kid said was sick and quite frankly, stupid. There was no reason for it save that internet gaming mentality that I hate when I play anything like LoL or WoW.

BUT PRISON? No. He's a kid who made a stupid mistake and is receiving a far more serious punishment for it than he should do. This is NOT right, and not deserved unless America is opting to run a completely merciless justice system now, with utter disregard for circumstance and actual crimes committed.

 

[GrimSoup]

As this is going on worse things are happening in America. If saying something stupid on the internet warranted this kind of consequence, 90% of people should be locked up. No one deserves to go to jail for something like this. Also maybe the reason why so many people get shot in America is because guns are so readily available. In Australia we reformed our gun laws.
"Our 1996 reforms were precipitated by the Port Arthur massacre, the 13th mass shooting in 15 years in which five or more victims died in places like Hoddle and Queen Streets in Melbourne and Strathfield Plaza. The central provisions of the reforms were the ban on semi-automatic rifles and pump action shotguns, accompanied by gun amnesties and two national buybacks, which together saw some 820,000 guns destroyed. Because of their rapid firepower, semi-automatics are the guns of choice for those intent on killing many people quickly. John Howard introduced the reforms to prevent US-style mass killings, not primarily to prevent criminal or domestic gun homicides or gun suicides ."
Maybe try that out before locking up people innocent of anything resembling an actual crime. But you won't so people will continue to get shot and you'll look in all the wrong places for a solution except for the only one that would work.

 

[Kungfusam]

I bet if it wasn't a white male you're talking about then EVERYONE would agree this is unjustified, but it is a white dude, so no sympathy for him

 

[Psychobabble]

Well good for the judge. We should never negotiate with terrorists. I'm glad to see law enforcement taking this threat seriously. While I know this vigilance annoys some of you as you feel these sick and twisted comments were simply "a joke". I pose the question to you. What if this person, much like a Batman villain, was publicly announcing his crime spree, intentionally misleading and lulling the public into feeling he wasn't actually serious, so when he did actually go through with his horrific murder spree, the devastation would have double the impact? What then? How would you feel if the defenders of justice had just laughed this off and this monster was allowed to kill again? (okay, for the first time .. as far as we know).

As Jim Sterling stated in an article of his earlier this week, it seems in these dark days that we must take everything someone says on the internet as the absolute gospel. There is no benefit of the doubt. And if any of us don't do their damnedest to lynch everyone of these internet potato heads every time they say something ridiculous we are only contributing to the problem, and are therefore apathetic spineless cowards. React without thinking, that's Jim's motto. And should be all of ours as well.

I say good job judge, I for one hope this miscreant spends whatever jail time he gets hanging from his ears. Hooray. Isn't knee-jerk internet activism fun.

 

[Dragonbums]

I bet if it wasn't a white male you're talking about then EVERYONE would agree this is unjustified, but it is a white dude, so no sympathy for him

What do you mean no sympathy for him? Most people agree that the joke was tasteless, but the punishment is far from acceptable, yet alone necessary and are advocating for the kid to be released and all charges dropped.

 

[Razhem]

To all the monsters that believe this media circus is warranted, I salute you.

 

[GladiatorUA]

I don't think that 8 years is fair. I don't think that serving time for this is fair. There has to be some punishment, though. The comment was public. On facebook. LoL has nothing to do with any of it.

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

 

[chikusho]

Well good for the judge. We should never negotiate with terrorists. I'm glad to see law enforcement taking this threat seriously. While I know this vigilance annoys some of you as you feel these sick and twisted comments were simply "a joke". I pose the question to you. What if this person, much like a Batman villain, was publicly announcing his crime spree, intentionally misleading and lulling the public into feeling he wasn't actually serious, so when he did actually go through with his horrific murder spree, the devastation would have double the impact? What then? How would you feel if the defenders of justice had just laughed this off and this monster was allowed to kill again? (okay, for the first time .. as far as we know).

And, how is what you just typed any different from what you are describing?
How do we know that you are not some kind of Batman villain who is publically announcing that a Batman villain might publicly announce his crime spree intentionally misleading and lulling the public into feeling he wasn't actually serious before going on a horrific murder spree and TRIPLE the impact?

Clearly, we need to throw you a 40 foot deep hole in the ground fully armed with guard snakes to make sure 1. aren't serious and 2. learn some kind of lesson I guess?

 

[cikame]

This should be dismissed, freedom of speech allows us to say anything we want, yes maybe the kids parents should have been made aware of what he said, but the fact that he was angry about a game pushed him into saying something stupid, is that worth ruining lives over?

I won a Tekken match once because my opponent didn't know how to block a certain combo, so i kept using it wondering if he'd figure it out but he didn't, i got a very angry message after the game. It happens and shouldn't cost tax payers money investigating and having a trial over.

 

[Pinky's Brain]

The judge who put this kid behind bars for four months on half a million bail should be thrown in a pound him in the ass prison, yes I'm literally saying he should be anally raped ... no jk.

 

[TheWanderingFish]

I think that context is the most important element in discussing any case. This one provides an excellent example why. Taking the quote as simply "This was said" is one thing. Taking the conversation as a whole is an entirely different matter.

Whether you believe that the comment was offside or not (Spoiler: It was), taken in context there is no reason this kid should be prosecuted, or even tried. I would argue that the "line being crossed twice" view applies to this case, with his words being used, evidently, for comic effect which was demonstrated by the sheer ridiculousness of his statement.

In order for there to be a crime, there has to be a Mens Rea (intent) as well as Actus Reas (physical crime) to be charged. That is the way it is in Canada anyway, and I would imagine it would be similar in the States, but I could be wrong. If this is the case though, I think that his lawyer will be able to prove no mens rea, and he will get off, as he should.

Again, to me it's something taken as an isolated statement, rather than in the context in which it was said. A government can lay down the basic guidelines in the form of laws, but it is impossible to see all eventualities. Each case still needs to be treated as an individual problem, with judges, or who ever, making ad hoc decisions based on the situation.

 

[Alandoril]

Yet another example of American courts not paying attention to what they're actually doing...

 

[Eve Charm]

So when doesn't freedom of speech not protect stupid kids like this one? hell he didn't even need the lol/jk Unless the Minority report is real don't know how you can charge someone for bs like this or We'd have to arrest 90% of the country by now for saying death threats about the presidents over the past 20 years.