A ... man who posted racial epithets and a call to 'shoot' Barack Obama on an Internet chat site was engaging in constitutionally protected free speech, a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday in overturning his criminal conviction.
Walter Bagdasarian was found guilty two years ago of making threats against a major presidential candidate in comments he posted on a Yahoo.com financial website after 1 a.m. on Oct. 22, 2008, as Obama's impending victory in the race for the White House was becoming apparent. Bagdasarian told investigators he was drunk at the time. [Emphasis added. See below.]
[T]he U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals overturned [his] conviction Tuesday, saying Bagdasarian's comments were "particularly repugnant" because they endorsed violence but that a reasonable person wouldn't have taken them as a genuine threat.
The observation that Obama "will have a 50 cal in the head soon" and a call to "shoot the [nigger]" weren't violations of the law under which Bagdasarian was convicted because the statute doesn't criminalize "predictions or exhortations to others to injure or kill the president," said the majority opinion written by Judge Stephen Reinhard.
Of course, the Times spelled "nigger" as "r-a-c-i-s-t s-l-u-r."
So let me see if I've got this straight. If I say, "I'm going to shoot the nigger," that is a felony threat against the president. But if I simply urge other people to "shoot the nigger" that is Constitutionally protected free speech. Have I got that right?
So does that mean that if Jeb Bush ever ends up in the White House (God forbid) that I can with impunity call on people to "shoot the redneck" as long as I get drunk first? Oh happy day.
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