LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A Kentucky man who acknowledged writing a poem threatening the life of President Barack Obama was sentenced Monday by a federal judge to 33 months in prison.Johnny Logan Spencer apologized for writing the poem, which depicts a fatal sniper shooting of the president. Spencer, 28, said he was upset at the time over the death of his mother and had fallen in with a white supremacist group.
"These groups were just a way for me to cope," Spencer said Monday in federal court in Louisville. "I took things they said a little too far." Spencer said the group helped him kick his drug habit.
He had pleaded guilty to a charge of threatening the life of the president, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison.
It appears to me from the article that the guy admitted it was a threat against the president, something that wouldn't have been obvious had he not acknowledged it.
It sounds like if he'd kept his mouth shut, that there was no problem. But, as soon as he admitted it was about an assassination, that's when he incriminated himself.
The question becomes for me, if I write something that is just imaginary about assassination, and I acknowledge that it is about assassination but it is only imaginary, then that should be first amendment.
But what if I right something that I'm serious about, and then say, "Yes, I was hoping to off the guy or have someone else do it.", is that still protected?
I don't know that I wrote that clearly, but you probably get my drift. What do you think?
My guess is there were other things he said and did, which made it more clear he was a threat to the President.
Since this is a guilty plea, they probably negotiated what exactly would be in the plea, and maybe this kept some more offensive or obvious things out of the record, in exchange for him not fighting the charge.