Texas man in jail for joke?

Zloth

I smell a... wumpus!?
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NPR story: http://www.npr.org/blogs/alltechcon...cebook-comment-reportedly-beat-up-behind-bars

CultureMap story (which I really didn't expect to be well done): http://houston.culturemap.com/news/...e-joke-the-twists-of-the-justin-carter-story/

This is sounding like a case of over-reaction, though it's hard to say for sure without a link to the actual Facebook conversation.

It does make me wonder about a lot of things that get said online, though. Free speech is all well and good but it doesn't extend to slander, libel, and threats. People chat online like they are just talking to a couple of friends in private when, in fact, they are posting where the whole world is watching.
 
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"I think Ima shoot up a kindergarten / And watch the blood of the innocent rain down/ And eat the beating heart of one of them."

That is the quote. Well deserved i say. There is a line you dont cross imo.
 
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Z you beat me to posting this. I would have put "League of Legends" in the title.

it should be noted that lol and j/k were in the Facebook post.

One of the things that's been going on with teens and twitter is its become a competition of who's post is most outrageous. They can make 4chan users blush.

That said, the Law doesn't typically go this far when teaching a kid a lesson (he was 19). An arrest, maybe a night in jail a come back in a month for your hearing where they drop all charges is often good enough.
 
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Z you beat me to posting this. I would have put "League of Legends" in the title.

it should be noted that lol and j/k were in the Facebook post.

One of the things that's been going on with teens and twitter is its become a competition of who's post is most outrageous. They can make 4chan users blush.

That said, the Law doesn't typically go this far when teaching a kid a lesson (he was 19). An arrest, maybe a night in jail a come back in a month for your hearing where they drop all charges is often good enough.
A day in jail and a small fine seems to be the best option here so I agree. Though paranoia and public opinion will win again because other crazy people have done this.

The kids only crime was he had the stupidity to say something, and ten years for that makes no sense at all.
 
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Do you get jail time for farting in public down there?

I hope the family sues and he gets a settlement for this.
 
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Do you get jail time for farting in public down there?

I hope the family sues and he gets a settlement for this.
Why yes I think you can in some states. Go through the law books and old laws can still be enforced. My favorite no ugly people.:lol:
No person who is diseased, maimed, mutilated or in any way deformed so as to be an unsightly or disgusting object or improper person to be allowed in or on the public ways or other public places in this city, or shall therein or thereon expose himself to public view, under a penalty of not less than one dollar nor more than fifty dollars for each offense
Hasn't been enforced since the 1970's but it's still there as are many others.
 
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Z you beat me to posting this. I would have put "League of Legends" in the title.

it should be noted that lol and j/k were in the Facebook post.

One of the things that's been going on with teens and twitter is its become a competition of who's post is most outrageous. They can make 4chan users blush.

That said, the Law doesn't typically go this far when teaching a kid a lesson (he was 19). An arrest, maybe a night in jail a come back in a month for your hearing where they drop all charges is often good enough.

Police dispute the "lol" and "j/k" were in the post. But lets say it was. I still don't find what he said funny in any way, shape, or form. But for those thinking there was severe over-reaction from law enforcement, what if they ignored it and he DID do this?? You simply cant say "well he wouldn't do that" nowadays. You just never know. What would you be saying then? How they had the chance to act and didn't? It is clearly of case of they are fucked if they do and fucked if they don't.
 
Sarcasm and irony does do well on the internet, does it now? And even if he was adding the J/K for Just Kidding, to me what he said is not something you say, not even in jest.

And not even in my country, Denmark, where the Danes are sort of world champions in sarcasm and irony would his sentence go well. It is clearly marked as a threat to hurt someone - and in Denmark, we look very seriously at threats like these. I don't think, however, that he would be facing 10 years in prison in this country e.g. Denmark.

He would probably have been arrested and had a stern talking to with a an older policeman, and maybe, just maybe a night or two in jail....Or he would have been arrested and let go after 23-34 hours.....and maybe the charge would still stand.
This is normally enough to get young men like this young man to think twice abot what he should be saying in public forums i.e. on the internet e.g. like Facebook.
 
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This is a disgrace. He immediately put lol j/k afterwards. I have no issue with the police checking this out, but once they realized it was no more than a poorly formed joke, he should have had nothing more than a stern lecture, maybe some community service. The fact that he may well have his entire life ruined over this is disgusting. Poor taste as it was, the first amendment should rule here. Fucking nanny state
 
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J/K ? Doesn't it stand for John F. Kennedy ?
 
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First make everything illegal then monitor everything everyone says. Sounds like a great plan for a utopian society.

There's a big difference between saying someone should die and planning it out, let alone making a stupid joke. A lot of people seem to have a big problem figuring out what is part of reality and what isn't and some of them are cops.

But people should take the interwebs seriously or better yet stay off any mainstream "social media" suckfests completely.
 
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That is the quote. Well deserved i say. There is a line you dont cross imo.
But didn't you just cross that line by quoting him? Context DOES matter.

From what I've read, I think the cops should have gotten a warrant to search his home. If they find something incriminating then yeah, haul him in. If not then I expect the visit and the cops poking around in his stuff would have been more than enough to wake him up.

Of course it could be that there was no j/k and the cops HAVE found some evidence but they just aren't talking about it yet. Why would that be, though? It's normally the defense that refuses to say anything until the trial.

P.S. Texas the nanny state!?
 
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They would say if there was. Cops have power to do whatever they want after 911 and some of them have some funny ideas, which is why you can't trust them with that kind of power.
 
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This is just ridiculous and sad. People are just hyper-sensitive over these things.

If the Sandy Hook incident did not occur, he would not have been arrested. If people could be prosecuted over the things they have said or done on the Internet, a significant portion of the population would be behind bars.

So to those who use hyperbole, metaphors, similes or exaggeration in conjuction with violence: never be specific and NEVER mention children.

ACCEPTABLE = "I would kill for Baldur's Gate 3"
UNACCEPTABLE = "I would curb stomp a baby for Baldur's Gate 3"
 
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In related news, a troll out of the UK, Reece Elliot, has been sentenced to two years in prison for his pathetic cries for attention.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-23249210

Wow. What an arse.

Once again, Penny Arcade's theorem is accurate
2jajler.jpg
 
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That theory has been proven true everyday.:clap:It sums up the internet perfectly. As for the troll I can say that one deserves it.
 
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Land of the free and the home of the brave, eh?

Just signed: http://www.change.org/petitions/release-my-son-justin-carter-in-jail-for-a-facebook-comment

My suggestion: (1) make black humour illegal. (2) Imprison England.

My issue with the sentence: he followed up with LOL and JK (just kidding), and we do not know the context of the words, but according to the article League of Legends players use "toxic" language frequently. The quote was brought to the attention of the police by a woman in Canada, probably the model of politeness. Do you really expect her to interpret the context of his words correctly? I for one do not assume someone is serious when he/she suggest to eat the beating heart of anything. Also, if you ever were a teenager, I imagine changes are high you used totally inappropriate language at some point. Plus, Dr. A is right: Penny Arcade's theorem applies.

People in the US are scared easily because of their negative experiences. Instead of imprisoning teenagers, though, they should make access to weapons more difficult. You do not hear people asking for that in Texas, though! A shame.

P.S.: Yeah, the troll definitely deserves it more. Not sure about two years though.
 
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