Posted on 06/04/2007 9:28:41 AM PDT by tcrlaf
HAMMOND, Ind. -- A Federal judge refused to throw out a Purdue University student's indictment on charges alleging he urged the assassination of President George Bush and made threats against other administration officials.
Friday's ruling by U.S. District Court Judge James Moody clears the way for Vikram Buddhi's trial to begin June 25 in Moody's Hammond courtroom.
Buddhi, an Indian national who was attending advanced engineering classes at Purdue's West Lafayette campus, faces an 11-count complaint for alleged comments he made in an Internet chat room in 2005 and 2006.
The indictment alleges that he made threats against the president, Vice President Dick Cheney and their wives. He also made threats against then-Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, and called for the bombings of the American infrastructure, it alleges.
"It is now legal under international law to bomb key sites in the USA. Iraqis! Give Anglosaxons the tit reaction for the tat action of Bush and the Republicans," Buddhi wrote in one posting, according to federal court records.
Buddhi's federal public defender, John Martin, has argued that Buddhi's comments were protected speech under the First Amendment because they were intended as "political banter" in opposition to the war in Iraq.
For example, on a message board pertaining to defense contractor Halliburton, Buddhi posted that "Bush is a President of Mass Destruction" and "should be electrocuted."
Martin compared the comments to a 1969 U.S. Supreme Court case in which an 18-year-old war protester told a crowd at the Washington Memorial, "If they ever make me carry a rifle, the first man I want to get in my sights is LBJ (President Johnson)."
The high court ruled the protester's comments were simply crude political speech and overturned his conviction.
Buddhi's messages were posted on Yahoo! Finance messages boards on the Internet, although prosecutors say Buddhi attempted to conceal his actions by using someone else's digital identity.
Buddhi has also argued that his indictment was too vague and that his exhortations for someone to "Kill GW Bush" and "Rape and Kill Laura Bush" were not "true threats" because Buddhi was not threatening to do it himself.
The judge rejected all of these arguments, saying the indictment was strong enough that a jury should decide whether Buddhi's threats of violence were illegal.
HE ESPECIALLY hated the evil Haliburton, spamming that board with over 10,000 hate-Bush postings...
my question is why hasn’t he been deported by now?
Put him in Gitmo. I’m sure the other inmates would love him.
We forget those countries have a much higher tolerance for assassination than we do. It’s practicaly their primary system.
My bet would be he was/is also a DUmmie.
Why was this POS in this country in the first place, if that’s how he feels? And when will he be deported back to his natal hell hole? I can’t believe these bastards hate us so much, yet can’t wait to come here to study and live among us. After he serves his prison sentence, he should be deported and permanently banned from entering the U.S., along with the rest of his family.
(chuckle)
Happens at Liberty Post every week.....
Hillary will love to see this guy get convicted.
TROP?
I am only asking because this article says nothing about the motive of a foreigner wanting to kill our President.
Vikram wrote his M.Sc. dissertation on Affine and Projective Varieties, which was completed in 1994. Currently he is doing Ph.D. in Algebraic Geometry at Purdue University, USA.
Mailing Address : Department of Mathematics
Purdue University
West Lafayette, IN 47907
USA
E-Mail Address : vikram@math.purdue.edu
Was he a member of FR?
So let’s see, he can be charged with assault and “hate” for his rant about Anglosaxons. Sounds like this judge is doing the right thing.
Another damn foreign invader.
This is what we are “educating”
Is he in school now, or sitting in jail?
The story says India. Do you have a source for the contra?
I think (and hope) they are holding him in jail. One of the other wire stories said he was in jail, and one whining Lib website said he was being held “in an unknown location.” Unknown, no doubt, becase whiner has no knowlege of Indiana’s criminal justice system. Please see my tagline.
Well, I was wondering if he was sitting in class and getting a PHD in math while he hates America so frakkin much?
I wrote our guest an email:
If you’re the person referenced here
“U.S. District Court Judge James Moody clears the way for Vikram Buddhi’s trial to begin June 25”
I am pleased that the case against you proceeds and I hope a jury finds you guilty and you go to Federal prison.
Thank you for visiting the United States and disrespecting our Leaders and laws. Now pay the price for the abuse of your presence.
If you are not that person, then I apologize for this message and wasting your time.
He probably learned all this hate by our own American born and raised university professors. But then, if he’s a Pakistani, he’s probably a fundamentalist Muslin.
However, I’m concerned that if they get one DUmmocrat on the jury that it could be a hung jury and he’ll be out to continue.. and be let back into school. Ugh
At which point he should be deported, because his student visa will have expired. There is no unlimited, universal Constitutional right to come to this country.
Oh, you don’t think the University would side with this enemy of ours, that he be allowed to graduate with his PhD? We are stupid in the US.
The university doesn’t issue the visas, it just provides the students with a document they need to apply for a visa. I have no doubt the university would side with our enemy, but there IS a way to get rid of him legally.
Father pleads for justice in son's suspension By Sarah Michalos 08/02/06
B.K. Subbarao isn't trying to argue for his son's innocence. He doesn't want to cause trouble with the University. He just wants Purdue officials to admit when they're wrong. "I'm not here to say my son is innocent, I'm not here to plead his case," Subbarao said. "I don't want sympathy; I want justice."
Subbarao's son, graduate student Vikram Buddhi, was suspended from the University in April after being arrested on April 14 on charges of threatening to kill President Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and their wives and threatening to use explosives.
On July 19, Buddhi was released on $100,000 bond by a Hammond, Ind., judge after Subbarao, a decorated captain in the Indian Navy, vouched that his son was not a flight risk. Buddhi was ordered to reside with his father and not use the Internet while he awaits his Aug. 15 trial.
Subbarao said he believes the University violated regulations pertaining to its disciplinary action against Buddhi and has exchanged e-mails with and met with several officials. On July 24, in an e-mail to Michael Brzezinski, director of international students and scholars program, Subbarao said the conditions of Buddhi's bond are that he must either maintain or actively seek employment, or maintain or commence an education program.
"My son has been here teaching for nine years and he's made some kind of contribution, however humble it may be," Subbarao said. In order to work legally, Buddhi must have a student visa, but his expired on May 14. Joe Bennett, vice president for University Relations, said Buddhi's visa renewal was denied because he was not in good standing. "Under federal regulations, he must be a student in good standing for the University to authorize that," Bennett said. "Therefore, he's not in that status and it was not possible f
or the University to extend his student status for his visa."
Under the second condition of the bond release, Buddhi must maintain or commence an education program. His status is still suspended, Bennett said, and that cannot change until he schedules a hearing with the University.
"That can only be addressed through a hearing, which the University is prepared to hold," he said.
Subbarao said Buddhi was advised by his attorney, John Martin, to exercise his Fifth Amendment right and not speak to University officials as it may have an effect on his federal trial. Therefore, there will not be a hearing scheduled until Buddhi decides to speak with officials.
Bennett said, however, that the University and the kernal process are two different things. "They're completely seperate ... the hearing still has to happen and the University process must be completed; they can't be without a hearing," he said.
Another of Subbarao's concerns is that his son was ruled to not be a threat by the federal court, yet Purdue will not use that ruling to guide its own disciplinary action. "The ruling is something that obligates him to meet certain criteria, but does not obligate the University in any way," Bennett said.
Although Subbarao said he will continue to work to have his son's status restored, Bennett said the process is at a standstill. "Purdue has followed its policies and procedures correctly and obeyed the law in all actions related to the case."
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