More Mindless Bush Protection

A prison sentence for saying "burning Bush"

A man who made a remark about a "burning Bush" during the president's March 2001 trip to Sioux Falls was sentenced Friday to 37 months in prison.

Richard Humphreys of Portland, Oregon was convicted in September of threatening to kill or harm the president and said he plans to appeal. He has said the comment was a prophecy protected under his right to free speech.

Can we stop this please? I agree that our freedom of speech stops once someone makes a direct and credible threat which that person is demonstrably capable of carrying out. However, resting a case on a single comment made in the context of a casual bar discussion is beyond my sense of reasonability. The quick scan of Google I did brought up no other information other than this "burning Bush" line and a remark that "someone" could pour a flammable substance on Bush and ignite it. Hardly a threat to take seriously, in my opinion. Certainly NOT worth a 37-month prison term.

From this Findlaw AP repost:

A federal jury in Sioux Falls, S.D., took just over an hour to return a guilty verdict last week in the case of an Oregon man accused of making threats against President Bush.

[...]

Humphreys, who calls himself prophet Israel Humphreys, said a similar reference he made in an Internet Christian chat room was a joke and that neither can be viewed as a threat on the president.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Ridgeway said the Secret Service and people who heard the remark thought otherwise.

"It wasn't a joke. It wasn't funny. Simply put, it was a threat," Ridgeway told the jury during Humphreys' trial.

[...]

Humphreys said he left Portland on March 1, 2001, and arrived in Watertown on March 8 where he got into a 1:20 a.m. barroom discussion with a truck driver about Christians who drink too much alcohol.

Realizing that President Bush was to visit Sioux Falls the next day, a bartender told police that Humphreys talked about a "burning Bush" and the possibility of someone pouring a flammable liquid on Bush and lighting it.

"I said God might speak to the world through a burning Bush... . I had said that before and I thought it was funny. It was prophetizing," Humphreys testified.

He was taken into custody the next day at a Sioux Falls motel just hours before the president arrived. Humphreys said he didn't threaten the president and didn't know he was visiting Sioux Falls.

I'm fearing we're getting too touchy about this shit.

Posted by Drizzten at December 10, 2002 01:29 PM