Teh One Who Knocks
02-22-2013, 11:52 AM
By Kent Faulk - The Birmingham News
http://i.imgur.com/WPTCR9i.jpg
BIRMINGHAM, Alabama -- A federal judge this afternoon halted a guilty plea hearing and set a trial date for Jarvis Britton, the Birmingham man charged with threatening the life of President Barack Obama through Twitter messages, after Britton told the judge he was actually threatening the life of the president of Assyria.
Britton had been indicted by a federal grand jury for knowingly threatening to kill, kidnap or inflict bodily harm on the president by tweeting the message, "Let's kill the president. F.E.A.R.," on Sept. 14.
But when U.S. District Court Judge Lynwood Smith asked Britton to read over the portion of his plea agreement with prosecutors about the charge of threatening to kill President Barack Obama, Britton said that wasn't true. He told the judge he meant the president of Assyria, "Barack Assad" and the acronym meant Free Everyone Assad Regime.
The president of Syria is Bashar al-Assad.
Smith immediately stopped Britton's guilty plea hearing and set a trial date of March 18.
Britton was arrested Sept. 21 and charged by criminal complaint for threatening the president. The arrest came after the tweeted a threat, despite having been warned by a Secret Service agent in June about threatening tweets aimed at President Obama.
According to a Secret Service agent's affidavit, Britton's June 28 tweet stated "Free speech? Really? Let's test this! Let's kill the president" and later "I'm going to finish this, if they get me, they get me! #ohwell. I think we could get the president with cyanide. #MakeItSlow."
A June 29 tweet stated "Barack Obama, I wish you were DEAD!," according to the affidavit.
Earlier in the hearing Smith had ruled Britton was competent to stand trial after reviewing a report from psychologist Kimberley S. Ackerson.
Britton, dressed in a red and pink stripped Bessemer county jail uniform, told the judge that he had not completed the ninth grade in school and was taking drugs for bipolar disorder.
Smith said he found that Britton did not presently suffer from a mental disease or defect that would prevent him from understanding the charges or assisting his attorneys with the Federal Public Defender Office with his defense. Also, during the time period of the offenses charged, Britton was not suffering from a severe mental disease or defect and could appreciate the wrongfulness of his acts, the judge said.
Smith also had asked prosecutors and defense attorneys to provide written arguments of why Twitter messages - tweets - are included in the law under which Britton is charged. But in the meantime, the judge said he was ruling that it was encompassed in the law.
Smith said he doesn't tweet and that when the law under which Britton is charged was created by Congress, lawmakers didn't foresee the advent of Twitter.
http://i.imgur.com/WPTCR9i.jpg
BIRMINGHAM, Alabama -- A federal judge this afternoon halted a guilty plea hearing and set a trial date for Jarvis Britton, the Birmingham man charged with threatening the life of President Barack Obama through Twitter messages, after Britton told the judge he was actually threatening the life of the president of Assyria.
Britton had been indicted by a federal grand jury for knowingly threatening to kill, kidnap or inflict bodily harm on the president by tweeting the message, "Let's kill the president. F.E.A.R.," on Sept. 14.
But when U.S. District Court Judge Lynwood Smith asked Britton to read over the portion of his plea agreement with prosecutors about the charge of threatening to kill President Barack Obama, Britton said that wasn't true. He told the judge he meant the president of Assyria, "Barack Assad" and the acronym meant Free Everyone Assad Regime.
The president of Syria is Bashar al-Assad.
Smith immediately stopped Britton's guilty plea hearing and set a trial date of March 18.
Britton was arrested Sept. 21 and charged by criminal complaint for threatening the president. The arrest came after the tweeted a threat, despite having been warned by a Secret Service agent in June about threatening tweets aimed at President Obama.
According to a Secret Service agent's affidavit, Britton's June 28 tweet stated "Free speech? Really? Let's test this! Let's kill the president" and later "I'm going to finish this, if they get me, they get me! #ohwell. I think we could get the president with cyanide. #MakeItSlow."
A June 29 tweet stated "Barack Obama, I wish you were DEAD!," according to the affidavit.
Earlier in the hearing Smith had ruled Britton was competent to stand trial after reviewing a report from psychologist Kimberley S. Ackerson.
Britton, dressed in a red and pink stripped Bessemer county jail uniform, told the judge that he had not completed the ninth grade in school and was taking drugs for bipolar disorder.
Smith said he found that Britton did not presently suffer from a mental disease or defect that would prevent him from understanding the charges or assisting his attorneys with the Federal Public Defender Office with his defense. Also, during the time period of the offenses charged, Britton was not suffering from a severe mental disease or defect and could appreciate the wrongfulness of his acts, the judge said.
Smith also had asked prosecutors and defense attorneys to provide written arguments of why Twitter messages - tweets - are included in the law under which Britton is charged. But in the meantime, the judge said he was ruling that it was encompassed in the law.
Smith said he doesn't tweet and that when the law under which Britton is charged was created by Congress, lawmakers didn't foresee the advent of Twitter.