Posted on 07/29/2009 12:56:22 PM PDT by tcrlaf
La Mesa man finds out when free speech is no longer protected, after he is convicted of making threats against a candidate for president.
SAN DIEGO, California - Walter Edward Bagdasarian walked out of federal court Tuesday morning the same way he walked in, wearing a stoic expression on his face and clutching the hand of his wife. But, when Bagdasarian came out of the Edward J. Schwartz Federal Building he was a man guilty of threatening the man running for the country's top spot, now President Barack Obama.
"The government's position essentially was that the defendent intended to make a threat," said Assistant United States Attorney William Cole. "Again, the law does not turn on whether he intends to carry it out but whether he intends to make a threat."
Bagdasarian requested and was granted a bench trial, meaning no jury decided his fate. In finding him guilty U. S. District Judge Marilyn Huff found the two messages Bagdasarian posted on the internet October 22, 2008, were intended as a threat. The messages, one which read, "He will have a 50 cal in the head soon," were discovered after a retired air force officer saw them on a Yahoo finance website and called the secret service.
Another email included racial slurs and read, "Shoot the n--. Country f----- for another 4+ years, what n-- has done ANYTHING right???? Long Term???? Never in history, except s-mbos.
In defending his client, Defense Attorney Ezekial Cortez argued the postings were political speech and protected by the first amendment. He also told the judge his client was drunk when he went on the website.
"Defense counsel proffered the idea that he was drunk at the time but as we indicated in court there was very limited evidence to intoxication," said Cole.
Cortez objected to the introduction of other emails Bagdasarian sent to someone on November 4th, election day. One email included a YouTube video link showing a car being blown up after it was hit by a round from a weapon. Cole said the second emails were important because they also showed intent.
"All these days later he is still talking about the same subject matter," he said. Which in the government's mind undercuts the notion these statements were solely the result of drunkeness."
Phone calls to Bagdasarian's business and to the office of his attorney went unreturned.
Out on $100,000 bail, the 47-year-old will be sentenced in October. Each count he is convicted of carries a maximum of five years in prison. So what will he be sentenced to, if he spends any time in prison?
"Theoretical maximum is 10 years in prison," said Cole. "But again the government has not made a recommendation at this time and has no prediction at all as to what the sentence will be."
I can't help but notice that while this article CHEERS this conviction, there were so many other articles decrying the conviction of Buddhi and others as Bush Nazism, FASCISM, unconstitutional, etc.,etc..
I guess a different set of media rules applies when one is against the Democrats, rather than for them.
That said, it's good to remember, folks, that you just CANNOT say some things in an open forum, and the FR site owners have often reminded us of that!
I wouldn’t be suprised if there was a White House Office for
Surveillance of Reich Wing Web Sites!
“I want to make clear that in my choice of words, I think I unfortunately gave an impression that I was maligning the the office of the President and the President himself. And I could’ve calibrated those words differently.”
We can proclaim from the treetops that Obama is a rotten stinking pile of poop, and nobody can touch us. Try that in England or (heaven forbid) Singapore.
He intended to make a threat? What the hell is that?
The guy is most certainly guilty of being a drunk racist but as far as I know, there is no law against that...
I was just reading an article about the Secret Service and it mentioned a worker that drew their attention at a golf course pointing a scoped rifle at a president from the roof of a house under construction, it turns out the guy was using the scope to get a better view of the President and they released him after an interview.
I just can’t imagine someone that stupid and that incident was fairly recent.
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Are you saying that the above is not a threat?
Ain’t it great? Barry Soetoro is so “offendable” we all ahve to walk on egg-shells. He is a minority you know. Between that and Barry and Al Gee having us stumbling around in the dark, saving our carbon credits, it’s getting tiresome.
I don't know...it's difficult to put much credence in a internet posting on any website.
It's not that I condone threatening the POTUS but I don't ever remember reading any stories like this during the Bush presidency.
Well they still can’t arrest you for unpure thoughts and man o man do I have unpure thoughts about this assclown,
“I have seen much worse on some Left leaning blogs in regards to both Cheney and Bush.”
Yes, but you have to understand that death threats from most LEFTISTS aren’t taken seriously. They are just emotional epithats from people who CARE SO MUCH...
On the other hand, a supposed threat from a CONSERVATIVE could mean an armed domestic terrorist, and MUST be taken seriously!! Don’t you keep up with the DHS memos?
It’s good to remember that it wasn’t the threats themselves that got Vikram Buddhi convicted by the feds, but the Federal ID Hacking charges....
“Are you saying that the above is not a threat?”
Sounds to me like prophecy.
So if it actually happens, does he get blamed for that too?
I recall that there were death threats against President Bush, but they may not have been treated with the same severity as this one against Obama.
At a trial, he could have said that since Obambi did not have proof of citizenship, he was not eligible to run for office, so that particular law does not apply. Then let the prosecutors try to produce evidence to refute that claim.
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Only if it can be proved in a court of law that he was responsible. At least, that's how our system currently works. Who knows what the future will bring?
Well, they can't...yet. Give them time, though.
There are thousands of threatening comments made every day on the Internet, and many are directed at people running this corrupt government? Some overt, some obvious.
Half these threats are probably from those that have had a few.
Talkers don’t kill and killers don’t talk.
Yeah... it doesn’t even say that he made a threat, but that they thought he intended to do so.
I guess making a hypothetical movie about a POTUS being assassinated is ok...and not “threatening”........as long as the POTUS is Republican?
You are probably right there chimera,
Hope all is ok for you in Ohio there.
Maybe you should calibrate those words differently.
If that was true, the whole of Free Republic would be closed down.
Well they still can’t arrest you for unpure thoughts and man o man do I have unpure thoughts about this assclown,
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Ol’ Rip only has pure thoughts, I am PURELY disgusted!
I don’t disagree.
No kidding? Please explain.
Oh, you mean the NSA?
I think the writer Nicholson Baker wrote a novel fantasizing about Bush being assassinated. I doubt he was hassled by any government officials or Secret Service agents as a result.
About three weeks ago I went up to Clayton Ga and then rode my motorcycle around Lake Keowee.
Man what a beautiful state you have there Rip.
Every time I go to S.Carolina I have a great time and see beautiful country. And to top it off the folks ALWAYS are friendly/
As for our Govt.?
Horse crap.
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Two things may have been in his favour. One, he was an established author at the time he wrote the book. Two, he is known to be a liberal. I would not be surprised if number two is more relevant to the authorities than number one.
From Wiki: "Checkpoint (2004) is composed of dialogue between two old high school friends, Jay and Ben, who discuss Jay's plans to assassinate President George W. Bush. Jay is an unbalanced day laborer who, in the depths of his anger and desperation at Bush's actions and his inability to do anything to stop them, has traveled to Washington, D.C., to kill the president. He considers many far-fetched means of assassination, such as depleted uranium boulders, flying radio-controlled CD saws, homing bullets trained to target the victim by being "marinated" in a tin with a picture of the president, and hypnotized Manchurian scorpions. Ben has met Jay in a Washington, D.C., hotel room, unaware that his friend is planning to commit "a major, major, major crime." Over the course of the novella, Ben discusses what drove Jay to plot an assassination. Reviewers have pointed out that the book is mild, and the planned violence so cartoonish as to be non-threatening.
Government throughout history threatens to kill all of us if we don’t submit to its totalitarian, illegal, unconstitutional edicts. This is not a new development. History tells us that eventually the matter gets settled on the battlefield.
DORK
“Reich Wing”
Robert Reich can fly?
Who knew?
Try riding SC Hwy 11, then the parallel US 64 from Hendersonville, NC over to Franklin, NC. Finally, try US 276 from Waynesville, NC south to SC Hwy 11.
NC 215 is also great.
Hi,
I’ve riden N.N.64 a few times and this last trip to the area we rode S.C. 11 too.
Also 28 up to Highlands.
Nice ride around Lakes Hiawasse, Nantahala and Chatuge too. Been in this area so much am going to North Alabama to ride in two weeks just cause I’ve not ever been in the area.
Hard to do, seeing as the post I was replying to got deleted by the mods.
Seems like some didn’t me to explain it to them...
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