Justin Carter, the 19-year-old League Of Legends player who was imprisoned earlier this year for a Facebook comment interpreted as a terrorist threat, will file a motion for dismissal on August 12, his lawyer says.
Lawyer Don Flanary, who is representing Carter, says they’re hoping the Comal County, Texas court will dismiss their case during the hearing, and if not, there are “many other avenues to take it up on appeal.”
“I think the law is definitely on our side,” Flanary told me this afternoon.
Carter was arrested in February for his comments a Facebook thread following a heated League of Legends match. In response to a person calling him “effin’ crazy,” Carter wrote, “I’m fucked in the head alright, I think Imma shoot up a kindergarten and watch the blood of the innocent reign down.”
He was arrested and held in jail until earlier this month, when an anonymous benefactor donated $US500,000 to his family in order to get him out on bail.
If convicted, Carter could be imprisoned for up to a decade. And according to Flanary, he was charged before anyone saw the full context of his remarks — only a four line exchange was screencapped and acquired by investigators in the case.
The exchange, according to Flanary:
Person A: “You’re effin’ crazy”
Carter: “I’m fucked in the head alright, I think Imma shoot up a kindergarten and watch the blood of the innocent reign down.”
Person B: “I hope you fucking burn in hell you fucking prick.”
Carter: “And eat the burning heart of one of them.”
Other parts of the Facebook exchange have not yet been released.
“It’s clearly sarcasm,” Flanary said. “The prosecutors then, they don’t get the entire [thread. They charged him before looking at the entire thread.”
Comments
21 responses to “Jailed League Player Will Try To Get Case Dismissed Next Month”
“I’m fucked in the head alright, I think Imma shoot up a kindergarten and watch the blood of the innocent reign down.”
reign down?
rain down?
what?
The real victim here is the English language.
And that is a serious crime in this modern world! Heck I’ve seen worse (grammar wise) from those in better jobs than me!
Where’s the freaking logic?
Edit: Found few mistakes. Excuse me while I pry my foot out of my mouth….
Jail time for a spelling mistake seems a little extreme.
OK seriously leaving out the “LOL JK” part takes this so far out of context it’s not funny. He said something stupid with no intent to act upon it. He deserves a days Community service and psych evaluation at worst not a prison sentence.
Who can honestly say as a teenager they never said anything stupid?
Dude if I put up here what I said to people online just in the late 90s to early 2000s, in comparison to this I’d get the goddamn Death sentence. I did far worse than this guy when I was around 20 – 21 in chatrooms…
So typical stupidity for that age. And none of it was blown completely out of proportion. I’m glad I grew up in the era before the majority knew how to use the internet, so my slightest error in judgement couldn’t land me in jail.
It wasn’t funny nor acceptable even with the LOL J/K. It is obscene and he should not have done that.
I don’t condone what he said, but it was something stupid he said in jest. I agree he shouldn’t have done it. But does the punishment fit the crime here?
Obscene, but not a terrorist threat. There’s a really, really, really, really big difference.
Clearly the true reason for this arrest was his heinous crimes against the english language.
The ol’ trick I use to remember which one is appropriate is:
Reign in Blood.
Raining Blood.
Simple 🙂
Absolutely ridiculous that they even picked him up. He is clearly having a laugh. Some peoples humor is darker then others.
Where does his game of choice come into this?
I guess if he’d said it in COD then nobody would have thought it anything out of the ordinary.
I’ve done some further reading since I heard this last weekend and while I now admit that the sentence is harsh there is on thing here a lot of people are overlooking.
The problem I see here is some people think by putting “lol” and “j/k” at the end one is immediately off the hook. And yes, I know what those appreciations; I was a teen back in the 90s and used to use such abbreviations before mobile devices gained full keyboard capabilities (there is just no need, we’re not typing with a keypad here!)
OK, here is core the matter. Some things you do not joke about and there is no context. What Carter wrote is clearly obscene and can’t be considered humor even if you go by the likes of Monty Python. Putting ‘only joking’ at the end of such comments does not automatically make them humors nor does it absolve one from any repercussions.
What Carter said is not a joke and cannot be considered sarcasm. It is offensive, disgusting and completely uncalled for. Also, let’s remember that Carter was 18 at the time – legally he is an adult now and expectations are much higher. The ‘boys will be boys’ or whatever form that phrase now exists in (I’m really feeling my age here) does not apply.
Punishment is in order but looking at I think it more fitting if (assuming the path is there) Carter been put in his place via some form of obscene publication act. From what I can tell, the reason why Carter is in trouble is because Texas has laws against making such comments.
Given that he has spent five months (?) in jail I think he has learned his lesson by now.
Finally, some have even been saying that freedom of speech is being violated. Last I checked, freedom of speech both allows an individual to say what they like but also have those listening respond with their own free speech. If Carter had been allowed to say what he did without being held accountable then how can it be considered free speech? Unless you are the Pope (pointing out infallibility here, I’m actually an atheist), freedom of speech is a two way street.
Some have also said his other constitutional right to a speedy trial has been denied. Sorry to say this but if Carter did have a speedy trail, he be the first human to get one on the planet. A speedy trial has not existed since medieval times and given bureaucracy it not going to return before the sun burns out. And yes, I know medieval trials were nasty but the point I am making is they were quick not just.
On a related note, it’s strange that I am hearing (in this forum) that some have said worse when they were teens. When I was a teen I was threatened with expulsion if I didn’t pull my head in and never heard the end of it from my mother.
The punishment for this never came close to fitting the crime. Five months in jail for what he said is obscene.
There is a large difference between a threat and something said in anger and something said to rile someone up. An adult (and a functioning society) should be able to tell the difference. Should Eminem also be swiftly charged with attempted murder for his song “Kill you” where he brags about the methods he’s going to use kill me and how he’ll cover it up?
By your logic, most people from xbox live should be charged with attempted rape of my mother.
I couldn’t finish reading this comment due to the poor grammar and spelling
Bullshit. You should be allowed to joke about ANYTHING; tragedies, death, religion, people in power, no matter what, nothing should be off limits.
I haven’t read the full thread, but did he actually say something along the lines of ‘lol jk’ after saying this?
They accused him of being crazy and he drew upon their ‘wrong’ speculation with something completely just as wrong. It appears to be pretty heated, unfortunately players can’t keep crap to themselves, instead of playing the game and working together. For a team game there are fewer team players than there are flamers.
Appreciate what you say. Have you heard the humour used by homicide detectives? Coroners? Morticians? Military that have seen active service?
It’s not pleasant stuff. But the point is, it’s a method to blow off steam.
An offensive joke to blow off steam and get the pressure out is far better than many other methods of dealing with suppressed anger. This kid may need anger management. He doesn’t need a jail term.
Humour is vastly subjective and while you may think that there are subjects that you don’t joke about there are plenty of people who will not share your point of view.
This IS an overreaction to the situation. Holding someone for 5months on $500k bail for 2 lines of text that are taken out of context is bullshit.
The police should have spoken to him and possibly searched his PC and belongings for weapons and plans etc maybe even had him talk to a psychiatrist but it should have only been a few days and some common damn sense and he should have walked free or done a tiny bit of community service. 5 months incarceration is stupidly long for something like this.