League of Legends Player Faces Eight Years For "Terroristic Threats"

[Flames66]

"These kids, they don't realize what they're doing. They don't understand the implications. They don't understand public space."

Then maybe you should teach them. The number of vitriolic, bile-spewing teenagers online is far too high. This guy even seems to know that you shouldn't just write anything that comes to mind on the internet, but he never bothered to communicate that to his son. For that matter, just teaching him to ignore trolls on the internet and take the high road could have been good. I hope this teaches some people that valuable lesson. Besides, he's 18. He should take responsibility for his words and actions.

It's all very well to say that his parents should have taught him better, but in practice raising a child is a very complicated, confusing, stressful and draining task. How could he have known his son would come out with that? How could he have prevented it? I know when I was his age I hadn't got over all my issues with my parents (I still haven't), so telling him may have caused him to come out with something worse.

That said, I've actually been on that end of the "you don't really have freedom of speech" issue, and I think they are taking it too far. 8 years? That seems a bit much for someone with no history of violent behavior or mental disorders (I assume).

The most this should warrant is a stern talking to. Any prison time for a crime that he hasn't committed, just sarcastically suggested, is a massive miscarriage of justice.

what happen to that of "you are innocent until proven guilty"?
civil rights are a joke, it seems.

ummm no one said he was convicted just arrested and charged, but thanks for playing.

Oh yeah, he's only been in jail for three months, I see nothing to be concerned about.

Cases take a long time to go through the legal system. Most Criminal trial defendants end up being in jail for months maybe even over a year before their case eventually gets a verdict. Since he is eighteen, he goes through the same hoops as everyone else and is not a kid like his father keeps insisting. I'm pretty sure his case will eventually be dismissed, and even if it doesn't, the state does not have much evidence. Just let the court system sort it out.

That is also a miscarriage of justice, he should not be in jail before his case has even been heard.

 

[Frankster]

Just the other day whilst playing lol one of my team mates threatened to find where i live and "cut me up" in my sleep "for being so noob". Pleasant chap.

Any chance i could get him arrested for threats of bodily harm?

 

[Catrixa]

So I spent some time thinking about this one, and I think the consequences for it should be similar to if he had said this in a public area, and someone overheard. Not sure what the normal police response to "I just overheard someone say they were going to kill school children! And eat their still-beating hearts!" is, but if it's anything other than a talking-to (in reality, you would have heard "just kidding," followed by actual laughter), what the hell?

Like, Captain Tasteless Joke should have had the police show up at his house, and the police officer should have whacked him in the back of the head with a rolled-up newspaper and said, "Oi, your joke scared someone! Facebook is a public forum, show the same damn restraint you would if you were outside on there, or I'll nab you for disturbing the damn peace." And then left. Information would be disseminated, precedent would be set, and no one would be wasting space and money in jail over what is effectively a tactless restaurant patron.

We're getting to the point where talking about bad things (next is thinking them) is an arrestable offence. Orwell would be displeased.

 

[faefrost]

Can we buy this presecutor an XBox Live subscription and sit back and watch the fun?

 

[theultimateend]

I'm torn, becuse on one hand I don't think he really deserves eight years for this, but on the other hand maybe this will force stupid kids to realize that saying moronic shit online has consequences.

It won't.

The only results are negative from this sort of thing.

This story is ridiculous on like 9 different levels. US is turning into a place of cowards and I find it really disappointing. I've not even been around 3 decades and I've already seen things change dramatically and not for the better in terms of the response to hyperbole.

Probably related to 9/11 but not entirely, this law of cowards started up in the 90's.

America, land of the free, until you say 1 thing to another in a fit of anger that is clearly a joke, then you get your ass locked up for 3 months, maybe even 8 years, seriously, are you guys for real? next you will be having public hangings if you disagree with the government.

And I imagine there would >still< be people on the forums here defending the hangings. "He shouldn't have said he was going to run a denny's over with a tank."

"Does he even own a tank?"

"It doesn't matter! He could have got one on Ebay!"

 

[Infernal Lawyer]

How is this at all acceptable? He shouldn't be doing any jail time at all. Even keeping him around before his trial is fucking ridiculous. THIS is what breeds contempt for the government; this kid will probably come out of jail, whether that be in a few months or eight years, frustrated and angry at the government who put him away for saying something stupid.
What's next? What's the next dumb thing we can say that will get us arrested? Will it be criticizing the government? Whistleblowing is already treated like treason, for the love of god, so why the hell not?

captcha: By the book. No captcha, I think we need a little more common sense and a little less relying on the letter of the law.

 

[5mj7R7yf4Dwr3gdZyyu9PeGNwYjlNrjzuh3iTXQG]

Does this mean that legislators and reporters who exaggerate threats will also go to jail? (Video games turn innocent children into rampage killers! We need CISPA [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyber_Intelligence_Sharing_and_Protection_Act] or planes will fall from the sky![footnote]Hackers can't and won't drop planes from the sky, and CISPA wouldn't prevent them if they could.[/footnote] Abortions make women suicidal! Birth Control causes cancer!)

I'm really not sure what the crime was here. What did Justin Carter do that was actually a crime? What panic did he incite?

When authority figures tell us harbinger the apocalypse if we fail to get a law passed or a guy elected, I suspect that causes an awful lot more panic and terror than a teen spouting off on Facebook or over League of Legends. If we're going to bust a kid for snarking, why can't we bust officials being dead serious when they wax hyperbolic (and often blatantly false)?

This is obvious scapegoating.

This is a sickening sign of the times.

238U

 

[Kargathia]

Sometimes, justice can be too blind.

This reminds me of the dude in the UK who was arrested for joking on Twitter about blowing up an airport because his plane was delayed.

Luckily, he was released again pretty quickly because the judicial system here isn't quite so moronic.

Except it actually went through multiple appellate courts before the decision was overturned.

Not to mention the fact the judicial system charged him in the first place, even though nobody at all - including airport security and the justice department itself - really saw the need for it.

 

[Irridium]

I'd expect a few years then have him be put on a watch list of some sort.

"A few years"? Because of a joke? Dude, are you, like, for serious? You think they should incarcerate a person and basically screw his whole life up because of a stupid little joke he made when he was angry? Have you ever been a teenager yourself, or have you come straight from that unknown weird planet where people don't care at all about other human beings?

I said "expect" not "he should have been". Personally I would have just given him a warning and sent him on his way. Maybe put him on a list of people you shouldn't sell guns to.

No need to be so hostile, man.

 

[rapidoud]

Tell me again why this country is 'free' when your government spies on you and your neighbours report you for comments when apparently you have "free speech"? Invoking Godwin's Law but isn't this a milder version of what Germany was like in WW2?

Can't even count the amount of times I'm told to go kill myself for being Australian in games but really now, this is just 1984 in real life USA. Get your shit together.

 

[Marudas]

For people in the "its just a joke, get over it" camp: Yes, I too believe the statement was far from genuine. However, there are a few things to consider. Firstly, threats are not protected by freedom of speech. Whether or not you agree with that, that's how the law is currently read. As far as whether or not someone should be persecuted this hard for such a statement, I agree completely that its a complete overindulgence in fear and stupidity. That being said, i want to say one thing. We, as gamers, shouldn't just roll with these statements. It shouldn't be normal. It shouldn't be something that we come to and say "yeah, people are racist, sexist, and otherwise hateful, all the time, big deal". I'm not saying its a crime, but it certainly is pathetic.

 

[Something Amyss]

I'm torn, becuse on one hand I don't think he really deserves eight years for this, but on the other hand maybe this will force stupid kids to realize that saying moronic shit online has consequences.

Well, that sums up my feelings. Eight years a lot, but fewer caustic dicks on the internet surely can't be a bad thing....

Can it?

 

[Vareoth]

Pff, what a dumb reason to arrest him. It looks like the terrorists did win in the end...

 

[TallanKhan]

Ok it was a stupid thing to say , and if someone thought his threat was credible and called the police good for them. But what was the harm here? So the police had to get off their asses and check it out, how about handing out a fine for the waste of resouces? What is the justification for sending him to prison? There doesn't seem to be any belief that the threat was serious so they aren't protecting anyone, and anyone who thinks that 8 years in prison for a facebook comment is going to make this kid a better person is dellusional.
After 8 years in prison a bitter, hardened criminal will walk out of those gates where a misguided kid walked in, hell, that long inside might just be enough to turn him into a child killing maniac, after all, hasnt society already all but judged him as one?

 

[Zepherus14]

what happen to that of "you are innocent until proven guilty"?
civil rights are a joke, it seems.

Well obviously everything that you say on the internet is 100% fact all the time, and there is nothing sarcastic or nonsensical that can be said there. Oh and did I mention I'm posting this message from the moon?

OT: All joking aside, although I feel there should be 'a' punishment for someone being this ignorant, but I serious doubt eight years is the correct punishment. Just doesn't sit right for me, even though the comment itself is absolutely not a laughing matter.

 

[MrHide-Patten]

"Terrorist Threats" or "For being a dumbshit". Seriously if that's the way he communicates his "badassery", then he deserves to be locked up somewhere, if only to keep his defective genes out of the gene pool.

 

[chadachada123]

If they brought criminal charges to anyone that said the exact kinds of obvious sarcasm as this kid (ever see the "300 confirmed kills gorilla warfare" copy-pasta?), our court system would grind to a halt, and I'd consider packing everything and going to live in the woods until humanity advances beyond bullying kids for things that are, by their own admission, let alone from common sense, just a joke.

I assume that his statement was pretty much along the lines of: "Lol, oh, yeah, I'm SUCH a murderer, I'm TOTALLY gonna shoot up my school and eat their bodies. (jk)."

That the police even talked to him is stupid enough, since this type of statement in no way gives any sort of evidence of a crime actually being planned, or anything outside of a kid having a dark sense of humor, but criminal charges? That's beyond retarded.

Of course, to illiterate fucks like the woman from the article, everything on the internet is 100% serious all of the time, with no room for CONTEXT or FUCKING SUBTEXT OR SARCASM.

 

[Sonic Doctor]

I'm curious as to why he has been in jail for so long,

The cruel irony of the justice system is that it is so through in its attempts to be fair to everyone that it crunches and grinds along at such a slow pace it actually causes more suffering.

And I gotta love how this turned into yet another America bashing thread like clockwork.

The only reason I can see why he is still in jail is if they didn't allow bail or they set the bail at some unreasonably insane amount.

Just about one year ago, my brother was falsely accused of a crime(won't go into details), and they gave him a bail amount and he was out in a day. Now the case is still going, with the actual trial date set in August. That is how slow this crap goes. My brother is falsely accused and because of this his employer let him go because well they can't trust him(but they will gladly hire him back if he is proven innocent, har har), our dad is going bankrupt paying for the defense lawyer, and to top it off we live in one of the few states that will allow a person to be arrested, taken to trial, convicted, and sent to prison on hearsay(literally, the whole case for the prosecution is based on the horribly confused and coached testimony of the "victim" with no witnesses or physical evidence. All that nothingness has dragged it on for a year and is pretty much ruining my brother's life).

 

[Fox12]

But his father said Justin doesn't keep up with current events and didn't appreciate the significance of his words. "These kids, they don't realize what they're doing. They don't understand the implications. They don't understand public space," he said.

I feel for the dad but the teenager is 18 - that's a legal adult. That means if you break laws, you go to big-boy jail. That's part of the deal, along with getting to buy big-boy booze and vote in big-boy elections. Being an adult means you are responsible for your behavioir in a public space.

Not keeping up with current events is one thing if you're talking about international news or the passage of bills through the House and Senate, but with the total media saturation that was Sandyhook coverage I think it's disingenuous to suggest he'd never heard of it. I want to say that, having heard of it and making the comment as a joke speaks of a dangerous lack of empathy, but I can't quite go there. Different people process tragedies differently, and lots of people make jokes others find inappropriate. There's no crime there.

However, neither are others required to share his sense of humor and his statement was intended to create a false sense of panic. (that's the joke. PANIC STATEMENT but oh I'd never do it) Freedom of speech does not extend to falsely shouting 'fire' in a crowded theater. (hey! there's even a wikipedia entry about this. hunh. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shouting_fire_in_a_crowded_theater )

Eight years seems steep but to me that means the laws should be changed, not that exceptions should be made for people convicted of breaking them.

Just my two cents.

Perhaps, but I feel that there may exist a difference between law and justice here. The individual in question never made a threat at all, it was clearly sarcastic, and now the ramblings of a busy body Canadian woman could cost this person eight years of his life. I'm always wary when people talk about the limitations of free speech, because when does it end? If we're willing to punish someone so severely for an offhand comment, then what does that say about how free we really are? The government could throw any one of us in jail if it wanted to, because we're all guilty of saying something stupid at some point. If we let things go that far then the law can officially be used as a weapon for the government against the people, instead of an instrument of justice for the people. It goes back to the statist ideas of "punish the small crimes and people will respect the large ones." It always ends in a loss of liberty for everyone, not just one stupid teenager.

Everyone's saying this is no big deal because the kid was obviously an idiot, and there are too many idiots on the internet anyway. However, being stupid isn't a crime, and it shouldn't be punished like one. I hate Neo-Nazis and racists too, because they're a bunch of stupid inbred, backwoods hicks with no sense of human empathy, but as long as they don't hurt anyone I am willing to tolerate their talk. Why? Because if we're willing to defend the rights of the worst people to speak their mind, then we guarantee the rights for everyone. A peoples ideals are tested when something unpopular is said. That's why I was adamant that the Boston bomber needed to have his day in court with a jury of his peers, and why he needed to be read his Miranda rights. The government is not allowed to ignore your rights, that's why they are called rights and not privileges. They don't have that authority, period. I think he deserves to be executed, and I hope he is, but the bomber still needs to be tried in court. Why? Because we need to show the world that our system works, that justice works, and that we won't sell out our liberties because of someone like him.

When we let someone get punished over something as small as this it undermines liberty for every man, woman, and child in this country.

 

[Jamous]

Investigate, sure. That I can understand. Make sure he -isn't- a nutcase about to go on a shooting spree is a pretty damn good plan. But prison? EIGHT FUCKING YEARS? No. That's absolute bullshit.