SAN FRANCISCO, April 11: Mailing a letter to the White House supporting President Bush’s death at the hands of terrorists is not illegal, Federal Appeals Court in San Francisco has ruled. The decision overturns prisoner Jonathan Lincoln’s conviction for writing a crude letter, written two weeks after the Sept 11, 2001, attacks at the World Trade Centre and Pentagon, endorsing President Bush’s death at the hands of terrorists.
The letter from Lincoln, who was charged with threatening the president and given an 18-month sentence last year, in part read: “You will die too George W Bush real Soon they Promised That you would Long Live Bin Laden.”
Oregon prison officials intercepted the letter from Jonathan Lincoln who was serving a 46-month sentence for robbery.
A unanimous three-judge panel of the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals agreed with the plaintiff that the letter was “Lincoln’s crude and offensive method of stating a political opposition to the president, and such political hyperbole does not constitute a threat.”
Judge Johnnie Rawlinson added that “although the language was disturbing, Lincoln was exercising his constitutional right to endorse the violent actions of bin Laden and Al Qaeda, which is protected speech.”
The appeals court’s decision reverses US District Judge James A. Redden who ruled that the letter constituted a “true threat” when it was combined with statements Lincoln made six months earlier to a secret service agent that he wanted to assassinate the president.
Lincoln’s attorney, Michael Levine, said his client was mentally disabled.
