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

[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.

 

[Risingblade]

Give him community service I say. Prison time is just ridiculous even if they want to set an example.

 

[Mossberg Shotty]

We don't F around in Texas. This poor bastard is going to crucified.

Don't drag Texas into this, if anything we're more accepting of guns/threats of violence than most places. I'm not saying that it wasn't a very stupid thing to say, but that kind of punishment is nothing short of ridiculous, considering that there's no way he was being serious. I mean c'mon, "eat their still-beating hearts"?

There are murderers and rapists who get off with less time than that. If anything he should just be put on the watch list, fuckin' hell.

 

[Yuuki]

This will teach American kids not to stay stupid shit in the wake of American massacres, and the kid full-well deserves 8 years because the idiot forgot he was living in the United States.

The years in prison will be a harsh reminder to him and a message to every kid across America - do not stay stupid shit online in the wake of recent American massacres while living in America because there WILL be severe consequences.

That's all I have to say.

Special emphasis on "America" or "United States" in case anybody missed it.

 

[Pebkio]

I don't know about the eight years thing, but I fully support slapping this idiot with something. Maybe six months and registered on some kind of list somewhere. If I were to yell that at some kid on the street, you bet I'd be in a holding sell with my life being combed through. People need to learn how to tone it down. We don't care about people being nice... what we DO care about is people being vocally bat-shit crazy. Especially on the internet, everyone is going way overboard with the shit they say to other people. Here's the important part:

"But his father said Justin doesn't keep up with current events and didn't appreciate the significance of his words"
A-fuckin'-right he didn't appreciate the significance of his words... and that's the problem, here.

"These kids, they don't realize what they're doing. They don't understand the implications. They don't understand public space."
That is no excuse, in fact, that makes things worse. Tt's time for them to learn some harsh lessons. There are people, in this world, who are afraid of you for just being on the internet and then you go and justify their fears. They are going to call the police, they are going to press charges, and your life is going to suck for a while.

But, on the other hand, eight years is dumb; probably even six months is dumb (that would just be to really drive the message home). Whatever the punishment is for "disturbing the peace" I would use that.

 

[chadachada123]

I'm honestly surprised at people who seem perfectly comfortable with the idea that we now live in a "be careful what you say" society. This kid - and he is a kid - spends three months in jail and faces a longer sentence than some killers simply because we are too afraid to make a call between a genuine threat and shit-talk on the internet, and this is somehow okay?

I don't see how this is any different from me threatening to kill my neighbor (Empty threat or not). Your first amendment right ends where someone else's peace of mind begins. I don't see why anyone should have to suffer threats of physical violence from anyone. I'll agree that 8 years is far too steep, but the fact that he's receiving a punishment at all is a good thing.

I can't wait to go next door, shoot my neighbor, and eat his corpse.

Lol jk.

----

Do you seriously believe that the above is some sort of threat? Like, seriously? Even without the "Lol jk" at the end, there is no way in hell that the above could be taken as an actual threat by anyone with an ounce of common sense.

You are aware, I presume of what "hyperbole" is, yes? Are you at least aware of the role of context in the English language?

This case is really no different from a child being expelled or suspended for biting a pop tart into the shape of a gun, or pointing his finger at someone and saying "bang," or some other case that would have been laughed out of town twenty years ago but is common-place today. That is, completely asinine, and caused by zero-tolerance-type authoritarians that seem to get off on being as strict and unrealistic as possible, not recognizing that they are causing far more harm than good.

 

[Yuuki]

I'm honestly surprised at people who seem perfectly comfortable with the idea that we now live in a "be careful what you say" society. This kid - and he is a kid - spends three months in jail and faces a longer sentence than some killers simply because we are too afraid to make a call between a genuine threat and shit-talk on the internet, and this is somehow okay?

I don't see how this is any different from me threatening to kill my neighbor (Empty threat or not). Your first amendment right ends where someone else's peace of mind begins. I don't see why anyone should have to suffer threats of physical violence from anyone. I'll agree that 8 years is far too steep, but the fact that he's receiving a punishment at all is a good thing.

I can't wait to go next door, shoot my neighbor, and eat his corpse.

Lol jk.

----

Do you seriously believe that the above is some sort of threat? Like, seriously? Even without the "Lol jk" at the end, there is no way in hell that the above could be taken as an actual threat by anyone with an ounce of common sense.

1) Do you live in United States?
2) Has an incident of that description (or similar) recently happened in the United States?

Depending on the answers to those 2 questions, it can ABSOLUTELY be taken as a real threat. If they are both "yes" then I highly recommend editing your post before you are reported to the authorities and the shit hits the fan. If it's "no" (to the first one especially) then you'll be completely fine.

Common sense is irrelevant, only the 2 things I listed matter.

 

[Pirate Of PC Master race]

I think they deserved it although it seems that 8 years are too much.

But meh, according to the current system sentences will be shortened. System works.

 

[JemothSkarii]

Been back home from America for three days and this stuff comes up?

"Oh yeah, I'm real messed up in the head, I'm going to go shoot up a school full of kids and eat their still-beating hearts,"

How can anyone take that seriously? Massacre recently or not it's such a ludicrous statement on Facebook of all things. I can imagine maybe if these people knew each other in real life and he was directly threatening her (I got threatened with police action over some choice status I wrote while drunk, the person it was aimed at was informed by a 'friend' of mine at the time).

But this is completely different. This is saying something cartoonishly evil as a response to a question over sanity in regards to a video game.

Man, and to think I wanted to move there. I know it's Texas and they're apparently hard on crime, but still...I didn't want to go there before and with my sense of humour I certainly don't want to go there now.

 

[Caiphus]

The possible punishment seems way too harsh for the crime. A simple investigation or caution from the police would have taught the kid a valuable lesson without possibly fucking his life up.

The police should be ashamed that they are going ahead with this.