Canadian law may be different but under US law (18 USC 871), a person can be found guilty of threatening the President only if all of the following facts are proved beyond a reasonable doubt:
First: That the person uttered words alleged to be the threat against the President;
Second: That the person understood and meant the words he used as a true threat; and
Third: That the person uttered the words knowingly and willfully.
A "threat" is a statement expressing an intention to kill or injure the President; and a "true threat" means a serious threat as distinguished from words used as mere political argument, idle or careless talk, or something said in a joking manner.
It's unclear from the quotes provided in this article if the statements written by the accused on the internet message board expressed actual intent to kill the President. When does the right to free speech cross over from being offensive to being criminal?
Statements like "The president of the U.S.A. is king of terror" are clearly not threats but are just political opinions.
Statements like "The president of the U.S.A. is going to be killed and will never stand again" sound more like predictions but may be construed as threats.
"Death to the president of the U.S.A." is clearly an inflammatory statement but it doesn't really show intent as in "I am going to kill the president....".
When the head of the United Mine Workers presented Kerry with a Remington 11-87 shotgun during a Labor Day campaign stop in West Virginia, Kerry chortled, "I thank you for the gift, but I can't take it to the debate with me."
Now, that's a threat! He has motive, opportunity and an expressed intent to use a deadly firearm against the President. I think the Secret Service should investigate Kerry's threat.
Naw. Prosecute John Kerry for illegally accepting a firearm without submitting the proper background check paperwork.
Joseph Mazagwu, 35, a police officer who mouthed off while picking up his uniform at the cleaners has been indicted on a charge of threatening President Bush for allegedly saying he would shoot him and his father if someone gave him the bullets. (August 28, 2004).
This guy faces 5 years in prison for making statements without a weapon in his hands yet Kerry can do it, while holding a shotgun, and it is a joke? I'm not laughing and the Secret Service shouldn't be either.
God bless our troops wherever they may be.
I dont know what the article is talking about, about an internet message board. His statements are on usenet newsgroups. Here is a list of the guys newsgroups postings:
He said MUCH more threatening statements than just the ones attributed to him in the article.