9 ms·

The 19-year-old jailed for the crime of sarcasm

313 points by Uperte 13y ago

duncan_bayne 13y ago
This deserves to be on the home page for a number of reasons, including the quality of the writing: > Nevertheless, a woman in Canada, who inexactly described > herself as a “concerned citizen,” ... > > The heirs to the constitutional settlement of the late > eighteenth century are as entitled to its bounties as > were its architects — idiot boys included.
- alexholehouse 13y ago
  I know Charlie from back in the UK - I don't always agree with his writings and ideas, but I can't deny he's one of the finest journalistic authors I've had the pleasure of reading online.
geetee 13y ago
All parents in the USA should be fearful that their child will be torn away when they too say something so childish.
wavesounds 13y ago
"He’s been incarcerated since March without trial." That's the problem. A jury of his peers would throw this out no questions asked.
- Ma8ee 13y ago
  Like the concerned woman who reported him to the police?
  - willvarfar 13y ago
    Actually, if you saw that posted, would you not consider whether to tell the police? The proper thing to do - as said in the article - is for the police to investigate if he was serious. And you or I would - depending on lots of context on whether we thought it a remotely credible threat I guess - report it for them to investigate? The problem seems to be on the police end, not the concerned citizen (of another country) end.
    - cdash 13y ago
      No, I would not consider it for one moment.
    - dizzystar 13y ago
      >> Actually, if you saw that posted, would you not consider whether to tell the police? No. Not at all. Have you not read what is commonly spouted on the internet? You have to be 100% illiterate to not understand that this was tasteless sarcasm. This doesn't mean I think it is funny or that I agree with it, but calling the police over a joke is pointless and irresponsible.
    - cgag 13y ago
      How could you think that's a remotely credible threat?
    - xauronx 13y ago
      I definitely would. I'm not sure what the rest of these people are talking about. If some angst-ridden teenager is posting something like that on facebook, they probably need to speak with a psychologist/councilor. In today's America, you can't take that shit lightly. However, this is like putting out a candle with a fire hose.
      - Volpe 13y ago
        So it's only if an american says this that you'd report it?
      - kristopolous 13y ago
        Have you ever been to 4chan? Just scroll through: http://boards.4chan.org/b/ http://boards.4chan.org/b/ ... things like this can be considered the norm depending on what sites you go to.
        xauronx 13y ago
        That's just the thing though. Context matters a lot. Are you so excited to have something to be outraged about that you don't think about this? I mean, if I yell "I'm going to rape you" in a video game that's the equivalent of "Good game buddy", and quite innocent. I wouldn't however yell that in a public arcade at a 12 year old. The inability to discern the difference hints at mental issues that need to be discussed with someone, even a parent would do.
  - wavesounds 13y ago
    I'd think one of his peers would know what 'lol' and 'jk' stand for, which a middle aged women might not.
- asperous 13y ago
  To be specific, here are a list of constitutional issues being called into question: > Congress shall make no law [...] abridging the freedom of speech > Excessive bail shall not be required > In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial Okay, so the speedy trial clause has been adapted de facto to mean six months, but maybe if he forms a law suite for free speech and excessive bail and wins he could be set for life.
  - baddox 13y ago
    Unfortunately for anyone who appeals to the Constitution, the government it establishes is also the government to which it awards the authority to interpret its meaning. In other words, the government can only make laws which the government decides don't abridge the freedom of speech, the government cannot require bail which the government decides is excessive, and the government must provide a trial which the government considers speedy.
- rayiner 13y ago
  I wouldn't count on it. It was some uptight woman who saw the comment and told the police in the first place, and you can bet its the fear of uptight parents that's causing the prosecution. Can you imagine how the shit would hit the fan if the kid had said something like that, the police had been notified, and the police had done nothing, and the kid had shot up some school?
  - javajosh 13y ago
    You mean like the uproar and lawsuits that occurred when it turned out the FBI was tracking the 9/11 hijackers for months before they attacked?
  - blisterpeanuts 13y ago
    But that's exactly the problem -- some fearful little officials saying, "But what if he meant it?" An intelligent chief of police and prosecutor should have looked at the kid's background, maybe dropped by his house, and said, OK there's no "there" there. Unless there's a history of violence, or record of mental illness, or sociopathic behavior officially noted, etc. Which as far as I know, there isn't in this case. Just pure blind, stupid bureaucratic grinding an individual with their jackboots, simply because they have the power.
    - rayiner 13y ago
      I don't know if you remember high school, or more specifically other peoples' parents, but it doesn't ring true to me to blame the bureaucracy with their "jackboots." Parents are fucking nuts, suburban parents doubly so. This is some town outside of San Antonio--you think these police officials are acting out of step with what most of the local parents want?
      - blisterpeanuts 13y ago
        See my earlier comment :)
    - epochwolf 13y ago
      It's the suburban soccer moms wearing the jackboots. The police are just their messengers.
- Zigurd 13y ago
  Don't be so sure. I was on a jury recently, and the deference given to the government position is alarming. Your fellow Americans are ready to send you to jail.
cloverich 13y ago
So, i'd like to get the full details of this seemingly outrageous situation. After somewhat extensively searching, I've never found what he actually said; only paraphrasing, etc. That's the difference between an obvious joke and... something different. Not that it justifies the situation entirely (or maybe at all), but would perhaps explain the reaction. Consider a similar poster who did an AMA on reddit here: http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/1hl4gi/ive_been_raided_by_the_fbi_ama/ http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/1hl4gi/ive_been_raided... After reading the actual transcript (http://pastebin.com/Ldtj6mhx http://pastebin.com/Ldtj6mhx), many Redditor's sided with the police. So - not to take the side of the incarceration, but I certainly find it odd that I can't find the actual FB threat / comments (yet?).
- GuiA 13y ago
  I believe the exact details are all here; he typed (in the fairly popular MMO `League of Legends`): 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. lol jk
  - ams6110 13y ago
    In response to someone calling him "insane." In that context it's pretty clear this was a sarcastic response.
    - rfnslyr 13y ago
      Anyone who has ever played video games even pseudo seriously knows that comment is just scraping the bottom of the barrel. So much worse shit is said daily in games like WoW/CS/League/anything competitive. It's mind boggling that someone took his comment this seriously. I hope he sues whoever he has to sue and lives out the rest of his life in absolute comfort. I'd be paranoid forever online because of this. Spending this much time in jail at such a young age for such a mundane comment is... I don't even know.
      - brazzy 13y ago
ethanazir 13y ago
This idea of preventing crime is like pre-emptive strike doctrine.
zaroth 13y ago
I know articles like this bring out the trolls, but I can't get over the sheer number of commenters (on the target site) happy to see Justin being 'taught a lesson', or claiming that his speech was truly criminal. What hits me the hardest about this story is that, what if an HN post of mine strikes the wrong nerve and next thing they're coming for me? Maybe next they'll be coming for you. Or 15 years from now my kid makes a dumb post and they come for him. The Supreme Court was pretty clear this kind of speech is protected, and yet here we are with Justin behind bars. By the way, how the hell does bail get set at $500,000 for a single Facebook comment, no matter how insensitive or inciteful? You might be interested in contacting the DA who filed the charges, Jennifer Tharp, http://tharpda.com/ http://tharpda.com/. Apparently she made her first comment on the case yesterday, although I can't find a direct link to her written statement: "Comal County District Attorney Jennifer Tharp says in a statement that Justin Carter could get 'community supervision or probation' if that is determined to be in the 'best interest of the defendant and society." What Justin should get is sent home with an apology, and perhaps a nice settlement check down the road. I hope while Jennifer is out enjoying her 4th of July, celebrating our independence day, she can spare a moment to think about how she's managed to trample the constitutional freedoms that so many Americans have given their lives to defend. I better be careful not to wish any ill will upon her for her role in this travesty of justice, since, you know, I wouldn't want to be accused of making 'terroristic threats'. So let's just say I hope it's raining in Comal County today.
- maratd 13y ago
  > By the way, how the hell does bail get set at $500,000 for a single Facebook comment, no matter how insensitive or inciteful? I think he might graduate high school soon and go off to college, so that represents a flight risk. And as funny as that is, I'm willing to bet that the above really was the reason given.
- ianstallings 13y ago
  There are always armchair prosecutors ready to bring out the electric chair for jaywalking. They are the same ones saying we always need to be tougher on crime even though we lock more people up than any other country. They are completely out of touch with reality.
ja27 13y ago
It reminds me of Michael Diana, convicted for drawing comics. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Diana http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Diana
alexvr 13y ago
It's only illegal for him to say such a thing if he also has a few machine guns and other preparations ready to go. Such statements, even with the appended "jk lol," deserve question. But I don't see how authorities managed to do anything more than question or search him.
- xauronx 13y ago
  Seems to me more like he needed a councilor and a talking to from his parents, but maybe the police did find the means to follow through with these statements in his home. This is all outrage-inducing non-information.
  - zaroth 13y ago
    The police did not find means to follow through with the statements. They did, however, confiscate his computer.
singular 13y ago
This is ridiculous, outrageous, insane. Terrorism is less likely to happen to you than a great many extremely unlikely events, I can't find a citation right now but I suspect it's less than being struck by lightning, yet the risk justifies... this? The odds of being struck down by a careless driver must be vastly higher, yet I don't see people who text as they drive being sent to jail for >= 10 years, or those with driving licenses who are suspected of being higher risk (older people, those on higher insurance risk bands, etc.) being monitored illegally (or 'legally' based on dubious laws) and/or shipped off to a coaling station [0] where their legal rights are effectively suspended and they are tortured [1] to get information about their alleged membership of a boy-racer organisation. Oh, and if this law was in effect in my country (UK), I'd be serving several years in jail. The irrationality of this kind of bullshit hasn't prevented people from trying to ruin people's lives over it, however [2]. What I'd like to see is the humourless 'people' who report this kind of obvious bullshit prosecuted for wasting police time and perhaps even harassment (I can't think of anything more harassing than trying to send somebody to jail + near enough ruin their life over something that is obviously not serious), the prosecutors who actually take it seriously losing their jobs and the politicians who implement these laws being publicly grilled on them. [0]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guantanamo_bay#US_Control_of_Guantanamo_Bay http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guantanamo_bay#US_Control_of_Gu... [1]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guantanamo_Bay_detention_camp#Torture http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guantanamo_Bay_detention_camp#T... [2]: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-19009344 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-19009344
- mig39 13y ago
  Toddlers killed more Americans this year than Terrorists did. Time for a war on toddlers. http://www.opposingviews.com/i/society/guns/toddlers-killed-more-americans-terrorists-did-year http://www.opposingviews.com/i/society/guns/toddlers-killed-...
  - antihero 13y ago
    Well the obvious argument for that is that the terrorists didn't kill people because all these powers allowed us to stop them.
dobbsbob 13y ago
Schneier always writes about overreactions that happen after every major tragedy or high profile criminal act http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2012/12/this_weeks_over.html http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2012/12/this_weeks_ove... If this kid was trolling Runescape now nobody would care
pestaa 13y ago
If I were a cop, they'd only have to send me to 2, maybe 3 cases like this before I'd lose complete faith and resign.
- lmm 13y ago
  That's why people like you aren't cops.
octo_t 13y ago
"Normally this wouldn't be the kind of story we run, but given the misconception that Carter's comments were made within a game and that League of Legends had anything to do with this, we felt compelled to dispel the inaccurate information. According to lieutenant Wells, the comments were left on the Facebook page of someone unknown to Carter" http://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2013/07/01/was-a-league-of-legends-player-arrested-for-trolling-not-exactly.aspx#.UdH-NhHVMWY.twitter http://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2013/07/01/was-a-...
tn13 13y ago
If this goes to show anything that it is that the administration is full of incompetent and insecure people who will thrash hardest to someone who cant hit them back.
deleted 13y ago
[deleted]
koalakid 13y ago
I'm going to be downvoted into oblivion for this comment, then my account will be hellbanned by the mods, but whatever: this guy's posting was jarringly violent and disturbing. I believe most people would never fathom ideas so evil, and yet this guy broadcasted it in the most public space in the known universe - FACEBOOK. The guy needs correction, badly.
- zaroth 13y ago
  Jarringly violent and disturbing -- sort of like a certain (or any?) Quentin Tarantino movie that grossed over $100m world wide? Most people would never fathom ideas so evil? Obviously false and useless hyperbole. Which is why you would deserve the downvotes. What you fail to grasp is the entire concept of protecting speech, why it's so essential to a functioning democracy, and why your personal opinion of a paragraph of text being 'violent' or 'disturbing' is completely irrelevant. We're talking about locking up a young man behind bars. Taking away his liberty, possibly taking away his ability to earn a living. It's not a stretch to say that his life is on the line, because of how a paragraph of text made you feel. All this is further compounded by the highly political decision about what type of speech may be 'too violent' or 'too disturbing' to be legal. I can't fathom how an informed American can honestly argue that we should criminalize the act of typing a few words on your keyboard, and posting them on Facebook, when those words don't constitute an intentional and imminent threat to a specifically identified individual. (see, for example, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brandenburg_v._Ohio https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brandenburg_v._Ohio)
- Gigablah 13y ago
  Judging by your post, you seem to have a good grasp of the concept of hyperbole. Now apply that to the guy's posting.
brandonhsiao 13y ago
I think the fundamental problem here is that the government doesn't really care if a 19-year-old needlessly goes to jail. Imagine things from their point of view. If an innocent 19yo goes to jail, it costs them virtually nothing. If they let him go, and he ends up actually shooting up a school, they have a lot more to lose. It's the same reason they're ok with torturing suspected terrorists. Better to err on the conservative side for the entire country than to respect an individual's rights and risk the next 9/11. I'm bringing this up as a problem, not as a justification. I'd be interested if anyone knows how to fix this.
- medde 13y ago
  They could use their illegal NSA spying programs and bring out some proofs that he was not kidding?
rmrfrmrf 13y ago
must we focus on the genders of every party involved in these types of discussions?
- penrod 13y ago
  And more broadly, must we refer to sex as 'gender'?
jccc 13y ago
On the off chance that anyone here is new to the story: He's been given concussions, black eyes, stripped and held in solitary confinement. http://www.npr.org/blogs/alltechconsidered/2013/07/03/198129617/teen-jailed-for-facebook-comment-reportedly-beat-up-behind-bars http://www.npr.org/blogs/alltechconsidered/2013/07/03/198129...
csense 13y ago
This article raises a multitude of issues. Issue number one: The problematic ways that the prison system deals with assault and mental illness among inmates. Issue number two: Whether the potential sentence for a crime purely involving speech, rather than actions, should be so severe as eight years in prison. Issue number three: Whether the speech in question was Constitutionally protected satire, or a criminal threat. Issue number four: Whether the defendant should have gotten some slack from the justice system -- i.e. why the police/prosecutors/court involved haven't determined by now that lesser charges/penalties are appropriate. I'm sure there are more. I cross-posted this comment from another HN submission on the same case with only a few upvotes, https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5987867 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5987867
DVassallo 13y ago
What would happen if a bunch of people were to tweet Justin's facebook message verbatim? [1] Since it would seem impractical to put everyone in jail, how does the legal system typically deal with such a situation? --- [1] This article seems to quote the intact message that got Justin in this trouble: http://www.npr.org/blogs/alltechconsidered/2013/07/03/198129617/teen-jailed-for-facebook-comment-reportedly-beat-up-behind-bars http://www.npr.org/blogs/alltechconsidered/2013/07/03/198129...
crististm 13y ago
"in free countries such as the United State" - that's a joke Americans forgot what freedom looks like.
- r00fus 13y ago
  Freedom® (tm) - Now licensable at a low yearly cost. Subject to restrictions.
mosselman 13y ago
Greatest nation.
Confusion 13y ago
Twitter, Facebook and similar services have provided people with easy ways to voice their thoughts at whim. We are now confronted with what everyone should already have known: that people have a lot of irrelevant, illogical, uninteresting, confusing and reprehensible thoughts. I sure do. Every teen has at one occasion thought: I feel like killing [everyone in school, my team, my so-called friends, my brother, the neighbour dog, ...]. Writing such a thought down gives it extra power. A screen doesn't confront you with people, which would make your brain stop and think, so it is easy to misjudge whether you can and should press 'send'. Monitoring that speech and acting on it, directly by the government or indirectly via 'concerned citizens': that way lies police state insanity. It means the system, and many of the people in it, is in denial of the complex, inconsistent nature of humans. They want clear rules, easy judgments, binary divisions between right and wrong. They lose sight of what 'being human' means: a huge variety of things, not all of them pretty, but all of them human.

313 points by Uperte 13y ago

This deserves to be on the home page for a number of reasons, including the quality of the writing: > Nevertheless, a woman in Canada, who inexactly described > herself as a “concerned citizen,” ... > > The heirs to the constitutional settlement of the late > eighteenth century are as entitled to its bounties as > were its architects — idiot boys included.

alexholehouse 13y ago
I know Charlie from back in the UK - I don't always agree with his writings and ideas, but I can't deny he's one of the finest journalistic authors I've had the pleasure of reading online.

geetee 13y ago

All parents in the USA should be fearful that their child will be torn away when they too say something so childish.

wavesounds 13y ago

"He’s been incarcerated since March without trial." That's the problem. A jury of his peers would throw this out no questions asked.

Ma8ee 13y ago
Like the concerned woman who reported him to the police?
- willvarfar 13y ago
  Actually, if you saw that posted, would you not consider whether to tell the police? The proper thing to do - as said in the article - is for the police to investigate if he was serious. And you or I would - depending on lots of context on whether we thought it a remotely credible threat I guess - report it for them to investigate? The problem seems to be on the police end, not the concerned citizen (of another country) end.
  - cdash 13y ago
    No, I would not consider it for one moment.
  - dizzystar 13y ago
    >> Actually, if you saw that posted, would you not consider whether to tell the police? No. Not at all. Have you not read what is commonly spouted on the internet? You have to be 100% illiterate to not understand that this was tasteless sarcasm. This doesn't mean I think it is funny or that I agree with it, but calling the police over a joke is pointless and irresponsible.
  - cgag 13y ago
    How could you think that's a remotely credible threat?
  - xauronx 13y ago
    I definitely would. I'm not sure what the rest of these people are talking about. If some angst-ridden teenager is posting something like that on facebook, they probably need to speak with a psychologist/councilor. In today's America, you can't take that shit lightly. However, this is like putting out a candle with a fire hose.
    - Volpe 13y ago
      So it's only if an american says this that you'd report it?
    - kristopolous 13y ago
      Have you ever been to 4chan? Just scroll through: http://boards.4chan.org/b/ http://boards.4chan.org/b/ ... things like this can be considered the norm depending on what sites you go to.
      - xauronx 13y ago
        That's just the thing though. Context matters a lot. Are you so excited to have something to be outraged about that you don't think about this? I mean, if I yell "I'm going to rape you" in a video game that's the equivalent of "Good game buddy", and quite innocent. I wouldn't however yell that in a public arcade at a 12 year old. The inability to discern the difference hints at mental issues that need to be discussed with someone, even a parent would do.
- wavesounds 13y ago
  I'd think one of his peers would know what 'lol' and 'jk' stand for, which a middle aged women might not.
asperous 13y ago
To be specific, here are a list of constitutional issues being called into question: > Congress shall make no law [...] abridging the freedom of speech > Excessive bail shall not be required > In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial Okay, so the speedy trial clause has been adapted de facto to mean six months, but maybe if he forms a law suite for free speech and excessive bail and wins he could be set for life.
- baddox 13y ago
  Unfortunately for anyone who appeals to the Constitution, the government it establishes is also the government to which it awards the authority to interpret its meaning. In other words, the government can only make laws which the government decides don't abridge the freedom of speech, the government cannot require bail which the government decides is excessive, and the government must provide a trial which the government considers speedy.
rayiner 13y ago
I wouldn't count on it. It was some uptight woman who saw the comment and told the police in the first place, and you can bet its the fear of uptight parents that's causing the prosecution. Can you imagine how the shit would hit the fan if the kid had said something like that, the police had been notified, and the police had done nothing, and the kid had shot up some school?
- javajosh 13y ago
  You mean like the uproar and lawsuits that occurred when it turned out the FBI was tracking the 9/11 hijackers for months before they attacked?
- blisterpeanuts 13y ago
  But that's exactly the problem -- some fearful little officials saying, "But what if he meant it?" An intelligent chief of police and prosecutor should have looked at the kid's background, maybe dropped by his house, and said, OK there's no "there" there. Unless there's a history of violence, or record of mental illness, or sociopathic behavior officially noted, etc. Which as far as I know, there isn't in this case. Just pure blind, stupid bureaucratic grinding an individual with their jackboots, simply because they have the power.
  - rayiner 13y ago
    I don't know if you remember high school, or more specifically other peoples' parents, but it doesn't ring true to me to blame the bureaucracy with their "jackboots." Parents are fucking nuts, suburban parents doubly so. This is some town outside of San Antonio--you think these police officials are acting out of step with what most of the local parents want?
    - blisterpeanuts 13y ago
      See my earlier comment :)
  - epochwolf 13y ago
    It's the suburban soccer moms wearing the jackboots. The police are just their messengers.
Zigurd 13y ago
Don't be so sure. I was on a jury recently, and the deference given to the government position is alarming. Your fellow Americans are ready to send you to jail.

cloverich 13y ago

So, i'd like to get the full details of this seemingly outrageous situation. After somewhat extensively searching, I've never found what he actually said; only paraphrasing, etc. That's the difference between an obvious joke and... something different. Not that it justifies the situation entirely (or maybe at all), but would perhaps explain the reaction. Consider a similar poster who did an AMA on reddit here: http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/1hl4gi/ive_been_raided_by_the_fbi_ama/ http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/1hl4gi/ive_been_raided... After reading the actual transcript (http://pastebin.com/Ldtj6mhx http://pastebin.com/Ldtj6mhx), many Redditor's sided with the police. So - not to take the side of the incarceration, but I certainly find it odd that I can't find the actual FB threat / comments (yet?).

GuiA 13y ago
I believe the exact details are all here; he typed (in the fairly popular MMO `League of Legends`): 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. lol jk
- ams6110 13y ago
  In response to someone calling him "insane." In that context it's pretty clear this was a sarcastic response.
  - rfnslyr 13y ago
    Anyone who has ever played video games even pseudo seriously knows that comment is just scraping the bottom of the barrel. So much worse shit is said daily in games like WoW/CS/League/anything competitive. It's mind boggling that someone took his comment this seriously. I hope he sues whoever he has to sue and lives out the rest of his life in absolute comfort. I'd be paranoid forever online because of this. Spending this much time in jail at such a young age for such a mundane comment is... I don't even know.
    - brazzy 13y ago

ethanazir 13y ago

This idea of preventing crime is like pre-emptive strike doctrine.

zaroth 13y ago

I know articles like this bring out the trolls, but I can't get over the sheer number of commenters (on the target site) happy to see Justin being 'taught a lesson', or claiming that his speech was truly criminal. What hits me the hardest about this story is that, what if an HN post of mine strikes the wrong nerve and next thing they're coming for me? Maybe next they'll be coming for you. Or 15 years from now my kid makes a dumb post and they come for him. The Supreme Court was pretty clear this kind of speech is protected, and yet here we are with Justin behind bars. By the way, how the hell does bail get set at $500,000 for a single Facebook comment, no matter how insensitive or inciteful? You might be interested in contacting the DA who filed the charges, Jennifer Tharp, http://tharpda.com/ http://tharpda.com/. Apparently she made her first comment on the case yesterday, although I can't find a direct link to her written statement: "Comal County District Attorney Jennifer Tharp says in a statement that Justin Carter could get 'community supervision or probation' if that is determined to be in the 'best interest of the defendant and society." What Justin should get is sent home with an apology, and perhaps a nice settlement check down the road. I hope while Jennifer is out enjoying her 4th of July, celebrating our independence day, she can spare a moment to think about how she's managed to trample the constitutional freedoms that so many Americans have given their lives to defend. I better be careful not to wish any ill will upon her for her role in this travesty of justice, since, you know, I wouldn't want to be accused of making 'terroristic threats'. So let's just say I hope it's raining in Comal County today.

maratd 13y ago
> By the way, how the hell does bail get set at $500,000 for a single Facebook comment, no matter how insensitive or inciteful? I think he might graduate high school soon and go off to college, so that represents a flight risk. And as funny as that is, I'm willing to bet that the above really was the reason given.
ianstallings 13y ago
There are always armchair prosecutors ready to bring out the electric chair for jaywalking. They are the same ones saying we always need to be tougher on crime even though we lock more people up than any other country. They are completely out of touch with reality.

ja27 13y ago

It reminds me of Michael Diana, convicted for drawing comics. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Diana http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Diana

alexvr 13y ago

It's only illegal for him to say such a thing if he also has a few machine guns and other preparations ready to go. Such statements, even with the appended "jk lol," deserve question. But I don't see how authorities managed to do anything more than question or search him.

xauronx 13y ago
Seems to me more like he needed a councilor and a talking to from his parents, but maybe the police did find the means to follow through with these statements in his home. This is all outrage-inducing non-information.
- zaroth 13y ago
  The police did not find means to follow through with the statements. They did, however, confiscate his computer.

singular 13y ago

This is ridiculous, outrageous, insane. Terrorism is less likely to happen to you than a great many extremely unlikely events, I can't find a citation right now but I suspect it's less than being struck by lightning, yet the risk justifies... this? The odds of being struck down by a careless driver must be vastly higher, yet I don't see people who text as they drive being sent to jail for >= 10 years, or those with driving licenses who are suspected of being higher risk (older people, those on higher insurance risk bands, etc.) being monitored illegally (or 'legally' based on dubious laws) and/or shipped off to a coaling station [0] where their legal rights are effectively suspended and they are tortured [1] to get information about their alleged membership of a boy-racer organisation. Oh, and if this law was in effect in my country (UK), I'd be serving several years in jail. The irrationality of this kind of bullshit hasn't prevented people from trying to ruin people's lives over it, however [2]. What I'd like to see is the humourless 'people' who report this kind of obvious bullshit prosecuted for wasting police time and perhaps even harassment (I can't think of anything more harassing than trying to send somebody to jail + near enough ruin their life over something that is obviously not serious), the prosecutors who actually take it seriously losing their jobs and the politicians who implement these laws being publicly grilled on them. [0]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guantanamo_bay#US_Control_of_Guantanamo_Bay http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guantanamo_bay#US_Control_of_Gu... [1]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guantanamo_Bay_detention_camp#Torture http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guantanamo_Bay_detention_camp#T... [2]: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-19009344 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-19009344

mig39 13y ago
Toddlers killed more Americans this year than Terrorists did. Time for a war on toddlers. http://www.opposingviews.com/i/society/guns/toddlers-killed-more-americans-terrorists-did-year http://www.opposingviews.com/i/society/guns/toddlers-killed-...
- antihero 13y ago
  Well the obvious argument for that is that the terrorists didn't kill people because all these powers allowed us to stop them.

dobbsbob 13y ago

Schneier always writes about overreactions that happen after every major tragedy or high profile criminal act http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2012/12/this_weeks_over.html http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2012/12/this_weeks_ove... If this kid was trolling Runescape now nobody would care

pestaa 13y ago

If I were a cop, they'd only have to send me to 2, maybe 3 cases like this before I'd lose complete faith and resign.

lmm 13y ago
That's why people like you aren't cops.

octo_t 13y ago

"Normally this wouldn't be the kind of story we run, but given the misconception that Carter's comments were made within a game and that League of Legends had anything to do with this, we felt compelled to dispel the inaccurate information. According to lieutenant Wells, the comments were left on the Facebook page of someone unknown to Carter" http://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2013/07/01/was-a-league-of-legends-player-arrested-for-trolling-not-exactly.aspx#.UdH-NhHVMWY.twitter http://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2013/07/01/was-a-...

tn13 13y ago

If this goes to show anything that it is that the administration is full of incompetent and insecure people who will thrash hardest to someone who cant hit them back.

deleted 13y ago

[deleted]

koalakid 13y ago

I'm going to be downvoted into oblivion for this comment, then my account will be hellbanned by the mods, but whatever: this guy's posting was jarringly violent and disturbing. I believe most people would never fathom ideas so evil, and yet this guy broadcasted it in the most public space in the known universe - FACEBOOK. The guy needs correction, badly.

zaroth 13y ago
Jarringly violent and disturbing -- sort of like a certain (or any?) Quentin Tarantino movie that grossed over $100m world wide? Most people would never fathom ideas so evil? Obviously false and useless hyperbole. Which is why you would deserve the downvotes. What you fail to grasp is the entire concept of protecting speech, why it's so essential to a functioning democracy, and why your personal opinion of a paragraph of text being 'violent' or 'disturbing' is completely irrelevant. We're talking about locking up a young man behind bars. Taking away his liberty, possibly taking away his ability to earn a living. It's not a stretch to say that his life is on the line, because of how a paragraph of text made you feel. All this is further compounded by the highly political decision about what type of speech may be 'too violent' or 'too disturbing' to be legal. I can't fathom how an informed American can honestly argue that we should criminalize the act of typing a few words on your keyboard, and posting them on Facebook, when those words don't constitute an intentional and imminent threat to a specifically identified individual. (see, for example, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brandenburg_v._Ohio https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brandenburg_v._Ohio)
Gigablah 13y ago
Judging by your post, you seem to have a good grasp of the concept of hyperbole. Now apply that to the guy's posting.

brandonhsiao 13y ago

I think the fundamental problem here is that the government doesn't really care if a 19-year-old needlessly goes to jail. Imagine things from their point of view. If an innocent 19yo goes to jail, it costs them virtually nothing. If they let him go, and he ends up actually shooting up a school, they have a lot more to lose. It's the same reason they're ok with torturing suspected terrorists. Better to err on the conservative side for the entire country than to respect an individual's rights and risk the next 9/11. I'm bringing this up as a problem, not as a justification. I'd be interested if anyone knows how to fix this.

medde 13y ago
They could use their illegal NSA spying programs and bring out some proofs that he was not kidding?

rmrfrmrf 13y ago

must we focus on the genders of every party involved in these types of discussions?

penrod 13y ago
And more broadly, must we refer to sex as 'gender'?

jccc 13y ago

On the off chance that anyone here is new to the story: He's been given concussions, black eyes, stripped and held in solitary confinement. http://www.npr.org/blogs/alltechconsidered/2013/07/03/198129617/teen-jailed-for-facebook-comment-reportedly-beat-up-behind-bars http://www.npr.org/blogs/alltechconsidered/2013/07/03/198129...

csense 13y ago

This article raises a multitude of issues. Issue number one: The problematic ways that the prison system deals with assault and mental illness among inmates. Issue number two: Whether the potential sentence for a crime purely involving speech, rather than actions, should be so severe as eight years in prison. Issue number three: Whether the speech in question was Constitutionally protected satire, or a criminal threat. Issue number four: Whether the defendant should have gotten some slack from the justice system -- i.e. why the police/prosecutors/court involved haven't determined by now that lesser charges/penalties are appropriate. I'm sure there are more. I cross-posted this comment from another HN submission on the same case with only a few upvotes, https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5987867 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5987867

DVassallo 13y ago

What would happen if a bunch of people were to tweet Justin's facebook message verbatim? [1] Since it would seem impractical to put everyone in jail, how does the legal system typically deal with such a situation? --- [1] This article seems to quote the intact message that got Justin in this trouble: http://www.npr.org/blogs/alltechconsidered/2013/07/03/198129617/teen-jailed-for-facebook-comment-reportedly-beat-up-behind-bars http://www.npr.org/blogs/alltechconsidered/2013/07/03/198129...

crististm 13y ago

"in free countries such as the United State" - that's a joke Americans forgot what freedom looks like.

r00fus 13y ago
Freedom® (tm) - Now licensable at a low yearly cost. Subject to restrictions.

mosselman 13y ago

Greatest nation.

Confusion 13y ago

Twitter, Facebook and similar services have provided people with easy ways to voice their thoughts at whim. We are now confronted with what everyone should already have known: that people have a lot of irrelevant, illogical, uninteresting, confusing and reprehensible thoughts. I sure do. Every teen has at one occasion thought: I feel like killing [everyone in school, my team, my so-called friends, my brother, the neighbour dog, ...]. Writing such a thought down gives it extra power. A screen doesn't confront you with people, which would make your brain stop and think, so it is easy to misjudge whether you can and should press 'send'. Monitoring that speech and acting on it, directly by the government or indirectly via 'concerned citizens': that way lies police state insanity. It means the system, and many of the people in it, is in denial of the complex, inconsistent nature of humans. They want clear rules, easy judgments, binary divisions between right and wrong. They lose sight of what 'being human' means: a huge variety of things, not all of them pretty, but all of them human.