The Associated Press has reported that a college student/wannabe rap musician has been sentenced for making a terrorist threat because he wrote a note that demanded money or else he would go on a school-shooting spree.
O.O. claimed that the words in the note were not threats but simply lyrics that he was writing for a rap song. He told Madison County Circuit Judge Richard Tognarelli that it was not his intention "to incite fear " nor was it in his "character."
But, of the juror's decision to convict, Tognarelli said, "The jury found that this was not a song. They found it was a threat, and I do not disagree with them."
O.O.'s defense asked for probation instead of a prison sentence, but Tognarelli rejected the argument and ordered an "appropriate" time much less that the 15-year maximum that the prosecution had requested: O.O. was given a five-year sentence.
Along with the prison time, O.O. is also facing a $1,000 fine on a related conviction – he had illegally had possession of, or stolen, a loaded pistol that he kept in his campus apartment and was confiscated when he was arrested in July 2007.
O.O.'s arrest occurred just a few months after 32 people died alongside a gunman in the Virginia Tech shooting.
Tognarelli, in seeing O.O. as a current public threat, rejected O.O.'s requests for a new trial and for being released on bond.
Campus police at the Edwardsville campus had impounded a car that had presumably been left when the driver ran out of gas. During the impounding process they discovered a piece of paper with words written on it demanding money to be sent to a PayPal account, and promised that "if this account doesn't reach $50,000 in the next 7 days then a murderous rampage similar to the VT shooting will occur at another highly populated university. THIS IS NOT A JOKE!"
Only the Virginia Tech shooting was mentioned, nothing about Edwardsville was referenced in the note.
Federal agents, well before the note was confiscated, were already in the midst of an investigation of O.O. Allegedly a gun dealer had reported that O.O. appeared too eager to get his hands on no less than four semiautomatic weapons earlier that month.
One of the weapons was an Uzi-like Mac 10.
In arguing for a tough sentence, prosecutor Jim Fischer said, "I'm having a hard time coming up with a scenario where that isn't threatening serious harm. Having a loaded gun on campus is inappropriate, regardless of the threat. The threat rises it to another level."
While Jeffrey Urdangen, speaking for O.O., said, "(O.O.) was prosecuted for his thoughts. At the end of the day, judge, everything else being equal, I can honestly characterize this as a First Amendment train wreck."
Contact a criminal defense attorney if you have been charged with a crime. The best way to defend yourself is with planning with the proper litigator as soon as possible.
