G.A. Viray
The highest court in the US recently overturned the conviction of a man who threatened to violently rape and kill his wife on Facebook. They said that a prosecution cannot be based from an Internet post and how that message was perceived.
According to NBC News, the justices reversed the conviction of Anthony Elonis, who posted rantings and threats on his Facebook wall in 2010 after his wife left him with their children.
Photo Credit: Anthony Douglas Elonis’s Facebook Page
Elonis’s posts were coined from rapper Eminem’s lyrics. One of his posts said,
If I only knew then what I know now… I would have smothered your ass with a pillow. Dumped your body in the back seat. Dropped you off in Toad Creek and made it look like rape and murder.
This post among many others, bothered Elonis’s friends who reported him to authorities. He was sentenced to three years and eight months in prison.
However, Elonis’s defense stated he just posted it as a form of “therapy” and were not “true threats”.
Last June 1, 2015, the US Supreme Court absolved Elonis, stating that the jury who previously convicted him did so without any proof. Chief Justice John Robert stated,
“Federal criminal liability does not turn solely on the results of an act without considering the defendant’s mental state.”
Roberts also stated that a person can only be convicted if that person “transmits a communication for the purpose of issuing a threat, or with knowledge that the communication will be viewed as a threat.”
