Crude, Threatening Letter Declared Protected Speech

A crude and offensive letter from a prisoner to President Bush endorsing the actions of Bin Laden is protected speech, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled.

The letter from a prison in the Oregon State Penitentiary contained the sentence “You Will Die too George W Bush real Soon They Promissed [sic] That you would Long Live BIN LADEN.” The prison forwarded the letter to the Secret Service. The prisoner, Jonathan J. Lincoln had been participating in anger management classes while in prison. As part of his anger management class, he also kept a workbook that contained other comments that threatened the President’s life. He had been interviewed in prison by the Secret Service for his workbook comments. The contents of the workbook and his comments to the Secret Service were admitted at trial. He was convicted of knowingly and willfully threatening the life of the President for drafting the letter that was intercepted by the prison.

The appellate court found that the letter “literally says what it means, that President Bush will die because ‘they’ said he will. The fact that Lincoln stated six months earlier that he planned to shoot the President does not give new meaning to Lincoln’s statement that Bin Laden or Al Qaeda will kill the President.” Thus, the court found, there was no “true threat” under the criminal statute. “Although the language used was disturbing, Lincoln was exercising his constitutional right to endorse the violent actions of Bin Laden and Al Qaeda, which is protected speech.”

United States of America v. Jonathan Joseph Lincoln, Ninth Cir. No. 04-30040 (April 8, 2005).