bd4u

Sentence upheld for man who threatened president
By The Associated Press
12.23.03
http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/news.aspx?id=12391


ST. LOUIS — A delusional, self-proclaimed prophet from Oregon who
claimed he meant nothing by suggesting that he or one of his followers
would set President Bush ablaze was correctly sentenced to three years
in federal custody, a U.S. appeals court ruled yesterday.

"Hopefully, medication over a significant period of years will result in
his being able to live outside the prison confines, free of delusions
and the type of behavior he exhibited here," the St. Louis-based 8th
U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in the case of Richard Humphreys,
formerly of Portland.

But the 8th Circuit ordered that 51-year-old Humphreys, who the court
found is afflicted with a bipolar disorder that is treatable with
medication, serve his prison sentence in a federal medical center.

In September 2002, federal jurors in Sioux Falls, S.D., took just over
an hour to convict Humphreys — who has called himself prophet Israel
Humphreys — of threatening to kill or harm the president.

Three months later, a federal judge there ordered Humphreys to spend
three years and a month behind bars for what the man insisted was a
prophecy that merited First Amendment protection and should not have
been taken seriously.

Humphreys, who had talked about a "burning Bush" before the president's
March 2001 visit to Sioux Falls, had argued he qualified for a lesser
prison sentence because, among other things, the alleged offense
involved a "single instance" with little or no apparent deliberation.

But the sentencing judge disagreed, saying Humphreys' barroom remark
about his supposed prophecy that Bush would be set ablaze came roughly a
month after Humphreys made similar statements in an Internet chat room.

The 8th Circuit agreed, calling the "single instance" reduction
inapplicable because Humphreys repeatedly communicated the threat using
various communication methods, including online, by fax to the White
House and separately in person to three people.

God did speak through the burning Bush."

"Humphreys knowingly and willfully made the statement and a reasonable
person could view it as a serious expression of intent to inflict bodily
harm," the 8th Circuit ruled.

The Secret Service has said its previous contacts with Humphreys
included two instances when Bill Clinton was president, saying Clinton
and wife Hillary Rodham Clinton would commit suicide.

Humphreys has said he arrived in Watertown, S.D., on March 8, 2001, and
got into a barroom discussion with a truck driver about Christians who
drink too much. Realizing Bush was to visit Sioux Falls the next day, a
bartender told police Humphreys talked about a "burning Bush" and the
prospect 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, acting as his own attorney with occasional help
from a public defender.

Humphreys said his trip to South Dakota was the fourth of his
"discipleship journeys" dating to 1993 and was meant to promote
Christianity through controversial acts or unusual public statements.

Over the years, Humphreys said, he had been arrested 25 times — all but
three cases were dismissed — and that his indictment on the threat
charge was the result of government profiling.

tilman

This is a rather sad case... this weirdo was sentenced just because he
quoted the bible.

IMO, his case is similar to the one of Luther Baldwin. While cannons
roared to celebrate a presidential visit to the city, Baldwin was
overheard say "that he did not care if they fired through [the
president's] arse." For his drunken remark, Baldwin was imprisoned for
two months and fined.

http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/database/article_display.cfm?HHID=10
http://www.commondreams.org/views03/0616-03.htm

--
Tilman Hausherr ** Inventor of the "Driving Principle" **
tilman@berlin.snafu.de http://www.snafu.de/~tilman/faq-you/moonies.txt

"I do not know about outside world"
(wife of Washington Times president to a reporter)

bd4u

I agree to some extent with what you are saying. If he only hadn't used
the Presidents name in the process. even so, it's a sad day when a persons
rights get trodden upon.Yet we can't allow anarchists to run around wild
now can we? Yeah i know, where's the BEEF. Maybe in the long run, we will
find it. Still it's a valid warning to those who would even try such a thing
as to overthrow the political will of the US President.
Guard your mouth, is basicly what the warning is suggesting, and anything
else you feel might be in jeapordy


bd4u

bd4u

You know, Jesus probably said it best. When he said
"give unto Ceaser that which is due Ceaser". Jesus died
preventing Tyranny, not creating it.

Sorry if i appear redundant, but i thought it important to add that bit
in.

bd4u

stevejdufour

Thanks Tilman. This is scary to me, and I voted for Bush.

bd4u

HEY, we ALL make mistakes, including ME!

;-)

Hope you understand what i mean?
bd4u