Court reverses Obama threat conviction

AP via SFGate ^ | 7/19/11 | PAUL ELIAS, Associated Press

[SmithL]

A federal appeals court has overturned the conviction of a San Diego man who authorities say threatened Barack Obama during his 2008 presidential campaign.

A divided three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday ruled that Walter Bagdasarian's violent and racist screed against Obama was "repugnant" but not criminal.

[EggsAckley]

Funny. I used to know someone named Ross Bagdasarian. He did the original “Chipmunks” recordings.

[DeaconRed]

TURN HIM LOOSE! ! ! ! !

[rockrr]

I guess I should slow down and stop trying to skim the headlines. I thought I read, Obama was "repugnant" ;-)

[kcvl]

On October 22 2008, a message was posted on a Yahoo message board titled "Shoot the nig." The threatening tone of the message was hard to miss.

Country fkd for another 4+ years, what nig has done ANYTHING right???? Long term???? Never in history, except sambos... Fk the niggar, he will have a 50 cal in the head soon.

US Secret Service agents traced the post through the IP address. A 47 year old man named Walter Bagdasarian admitted to Secret Service agents that he was the person responsible for the message.

When Bagdasarian's home was raided agents turned up three rifles, including a 30.06 with a telescopic sight and a Remington .50 caliber muzzle-loading rifle. He has been charged with expressing 'displeasure' over Obama's candidacy and threatening that he would soon have "a 50 cal in the head."

Bagdasarian was released last month on a $100,000 real estate bond. He hasn't been accused of actively plotting an attack on Obama.

[kcvl]

Tuesday, Jul 28, 2009

A federal judge found a La Mesa man guilty Tuesday of making Internet threats against Barack Obama during the presidential campaign.

Walter Edward Bagdasarian, 47, was indicted in January after Secret Service agents traced the alleged threats — filled with racial invectives and profanity — to his wife’s computer and later found a small arsenal of weapons in the couple’s La Mesa home.

Judge Marilyn Huff ruled that two World Wide Web postings on Oct. 22, 2008, could reasonably be taken as serious threats and were intended as such despite Bagdasarian’s later explanation that he was drunk on wine at the time they were written.

Several hours after the second posting, he went online to apologize.

The nonjury bench trial lasted an hour and 20 minutes, beginning with prosecutor William Cole displaying the defendant’s .50 caliber muzzle-loading rifle and an explosive YouTube video segment found on the defendant’s computer hard drive. The video, which was shown in court Tuesday, depicted a junk car being blown up by a.50 caliber round fired in an unidentified rural setting.

Cortez had objected to the video being shown but was overruled.

“We don’t even know if [the junk car] was rigged to blow up,” Cortez said in closing remarks.

The defense attorney said the rifle was “a collector’s item” incapable of the firepower of the weapon used in the YouTube video.

The video was a link in an e-mail dated Nov. 4, 2008 (Election Day), in which prosecutors quote Bagdasarian as saying “And so it begins ... Pistol ... plink plink plink. Now when you use a 50 cal on a n-—— car you get this.”

Another e-mail with the same date says, “Pistol??? Dude, Josh needs to get us these, just shoot the n-——’s car and POOF!”

That e-mail links to the Barrett Rifles Web site, referring to the company’s model 82a1 semi-automatic .50 caliber rifle.

After Cole showed a picture of the rifle, Cortez called the display “almost pornographic.”

The prosecution’s intended effect, Cortez said, was “to raise emotional issues, to try to influence the trier of fact [Judge Huff] ... Oooh, look at this military redneck, this dangerous racist we have here.”

Cortez insisted Bagdasarian’s messages — while “ugly racial statements” — did not amount to a “specific intent” to carry out a “true threat.” He also said Bagdasarian’s wife “as a Democrat campaigned for Barack Obama” — drawing an objection on grounds of irrelevancy from prosecutor Cole.

The .50 caliber rifle shown in evidence was among six firearms found in a Secret Service search of Bagdasarian’s home, along with 500 rounds of ammunition.

http://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/Obama-Threat-Trial-Starts-Today.html

[driftdiver]

So its free speech when a liberal wants to kill Bush, but repugnant and borderline illegal when this bozo does something similiar?

Do I got this right?

[newzjunkey]

Pretty much. However, the a 9th Circus panel saw it differently.

Based on what I see here, I'm not sure I object to his prosecution.

[driftdiver]

I was just pointing out the blatant hypocrisy. I think anyone that threatens who he did should be prosecuted.

Whether its Bush, Clinton, or BO.

Of course BO shouldn’t be president but thats another topic.

[trumandogz]

Does not seem like a direct threat, but Bagdasarian is a Racist POS.

[WackySam]

The 9th U.S. Circuit gets another one wrong.....

[TheBigJ]

2009? Since then about half the comments in forums like youtube, etc concerning Zero and ruling class include threats. Welcome to the real world.