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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsJudge sides with abortion opponent over alleged threat:"Bomb threat is free speech"
WICHITA An abortion opponents letter to a Wichita doctor saying someone might place an explosive under her car is constitutionally protected speech and not a true threat under existing law, a federal judge ruled Thursday.
U.S. District Judge J. Thomas Marten summarily found in favor of Angel Dillard in the 2011 civil lawsuit brought by the Justice Department under a law aimed at protecting access to abortion services. The 25-page decision handed down comes after a flurry of sealed filings seeking summary judgment.
The judge wrote that the government supplied no evidence that actual violence against Dr. Mila Means was likely or imminent.
<snip>
Dillard wrote in her letter that thousands of people from across the nation were scrutinizing Means background and would know your habits and routines.
They know where you shop, who your friends are, what you drive, where you live, the letter said. You will be checking under your car every day <0x2014> because maybe today is the day someone places an explosive under it.
The judge noted in his decision that Dillard sent the letter openly with her return address on it.
<snip>
The judge also rejected the governments request for a permanent injunction prohibiting Dillard from again contacting Means. He was persuaded by the defense argument that she would have no reason to do so since Means no longer has any plans to offer abortion services in Kansas.
The court also noted the governments argument that Means had refrained from contacting Means while the lawsuit was pending.
If the glare of publicity and the prospect of additional government legal action are sufficient by themselves to prevent further communications by Dillard, they would remain even in the absence of separate injunction relief, the judge wrote. That is, the government effectively concedes that Dillard is a rational person, at least in sensing the folly of additional communications with Dr. Means.
http://cjonline.com/news/2013-08-15/judge-sides-abortion-opponent-over-alleged-threat
The judge is as crazy as a s***house mouse.
Warpy
(110,913 posts)can bomb threats be construed as free speech. They are illegal everywhere.
CBGLuthier
(12,723 posts)Even if............. .... ..... .... .
Never mind.
Enrique
(27,461 posts)Wiggum: I'd like to help you ma'am, but, heh heh, I'm afraid there's no law against mailing threatening letters.
Marge: I'm pretty sure there is.
Wiggum: Hah! The day I take cop lessons from Ma Kettle --
Fumesucker
(45,851 posts)niyad
(112,440 posts)Hydra
(14,459 posts)Clinton and Bush Sr. are buddy buddies. That didn't happen overnight.
PowerToThePeople
(9,610 posts)Last edited Fri Aug 16, 2013, 06:42 PM - Edit history (2)
Kinda, sorta, maybe, ?
As a good Christian might say, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you."
edit-
Kansas Inmate Claims Anti-Choicer Asked Him to Firebomb the Home of Dr. Means
The Associated Press and The Wichita Eagle reported yesterday that Robert Campbell, an inmate in Sedgwick County, Kansas has asserted that domestic terrorist Angel Dillard asked him last year to firebomb the house of Dr. Mila Means, an abortion provider who sought to help fill the void in access to safe abortion care in Wichita, Kansas after the assassination of Dr. George Tiller.
http://rhrealitycheck.org/article/2013/04/04/kansas-inmate-claims-anti-choicer-asked-him-to-firebomb-the-home-of-dr-means/
edit2-
supposedly this is her church. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/What%27s_the_Matter_with_Kansas%3F_%28film%29)
Immanuel Baptist Church
1415 S Topeka
Wichita, KS 67211
www.ibcwichita.com
316.262.1452
CurtEastPoint
(18,553 posts)PowerToThePeople
(9,610 posts)She is one of the Primary Characters. She should be easy enough to find.
VA_Jill
(9,854 posts)most recently on Michele Bachmann.
lastlib
(22,981 posts)http://www.justice.gov/crt/about/spl/documents/FACE_Dillard_Complaint.pdf
(it's public record now....)
(they named her "Angel"??!?!?? YUCKKKKK!!!)
freshwest
(53,661 posts)okieinpain
(9,397 posts)knows where she lives, knows where she shops, knows where her family is and there is going to be a day when someone leaves explosives under her car. lol, rupugs are not the brightest people in the world.
Fire Walk With Me
(38,893 posts)kiranon
(1,727 posts)freshwest
(53,661 posts)Cooley Hurd
(26,877 posts)An abusive husband who threatens to blow his wife's brains out is now protected because he is exercizing his 1st Amendment rights.
This judge should be removed IMMEDIATELY.
Baitball Blogger
(46,576 posts)He knows that if the same letter were addressed to him the police would be right on it.
Robb
(39,665 posts)The Second Stone
(2,900 posts)would result in a prison sentence.
ET Awful
(24,753 posts)against the "Church" of Scientology saying he'd launch a "Tom Cruise Missile" at them.
He was prosecuted for making terrorist threats and interfering with a religion. He was convicted.
Google "Keith Henson".
How is this a lesser offense?
niyad
(112,440 posts)niyad
(112,440 posts)cynzke
(1,254 posts)Bet that judge would have a totally different opinion if that was someone commenting to the judge about decisions he made that might make enemies. Judges have been known to get killed from time to time by disgruntled parties who didn't agree with the rulings.
KamaAina
(78,249 posts)no constitutional right is absolute. Not the First Amendment, not the Second, and so on.
P.S. I always wanted to be at the scene of a fire where people were gathering and run around yelling "Theater! Theater!"
Spitfire of ATJ
(32,723 posts)Jack Rabbit
(45,984 posts)... and suggest that a couple of fascist Kansas billionaires would be more useful to society as lamp post ornaments, would the judge consider that free speech? I don't suppose he would (or should).
That kind of free speech has been known to get people thrown off airplanes. That judge is just bats.
indepat
(20,899 posts)peachy. Who nominated this fine gentleman with a keen understanding of the First Amendment to the Federal bench? Shame, shame.
1KansasDem
(251 posts)A lifelong democrat and a Clinton appointee. Clerked for Tom Clark (scotus) as a young man. He's no winger.
Might want to do a little research on his record before you condemn him.
The "pro-life" community in Kansas generally dislikes him,because of his ruling's on the issue.
Jamastiene
(38,187 posts)precedent. That judge needs to be out of a job, pronto. I wonder how that judge would like to receive a note with the same exactly type of wording directed at him. What an asshole.
Gravitycollapse
(8,155 posts)If the note read "I am going to place a bomb under your car" or "I have instructed _____ to place a bomb under your car," that would constitute an immanent threat and would be illegal.
Gravitycollapse
(8,155 posts)While disgusting, what was said does not constitute an actual threat.