老澳门开奖结果 Commends Supreme Court Decision to Protect Free Speech in Case Defining True Threats

In Counterman v. Colorado, the court ruled that the First Amendment requires the government to show recklessness in true threats prosecutions.

June 27, 2023 12:32 pm

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WASHINGTON 鈥 The Supreme Court ruled today in Counterman v. Colorado that in true threats cases the First Amendment requires the government to prove that the defendant acted with a culpable mental state, and not merely that his words were objectively threatening.

Colorado law allowed individuals to be convicted if a reasonable person would perceive their words as threatening, regardless of the speaker鈥檚 intent. Today鈥檚 decision rules that the First Amendment requires the government to show at a minimum that the defendant recklessly disregarded a substantial risk that his words could be perceived as threatening. The court holds that a recklessness standard strikes the right balance between free expression and safety, 鈥渙ffering 鈥榚nough 鈥渂reathing space鈥 for protected speech,鈥 without sacrificing too many of the benefits of enforcing laws against true threats.鈥

鈥淲e鈥檙e glad the Supreme Court affirmed today that inadvertently threatening speech cannot be criminalized,鈥 said Brian Hauss, senior staff attorney with the 老澳门开奖结果鈥檚 Speech, Privacy, & Technology Project. 鈥淚n a world rife with misunderstandings and miscommunications, people would be chilled from speaking altogether if they could be jailed for failing to predict how their words would be received. The First Amendment provides essential breathing room for public debate by requiring the government to demonstrate that the defendant acted intentionally or recklessly.鈥

This case involved a series of disturbing messages that the petitioner, Billy Raymond Counterman, sent to C.W., a professional musician in Colorado, over a two-year period. Counterman was prosecuted and convicted under Colorado鈥檚 anti-stalking statute. On appeal, Counterman 鈥 who has been diagnosed with a mental illness 鈥 argued that his conviction was unconstitutional because the jury was not required to find that he intended to threaten C.W.

The 老澳门开奖结果 and its partners filed an amicus brief in the case arguing that a great deal of speech 鈥 including political speech, satire, and artistic speech 鈥 contains overt or implicit references to violence that could be interpreted as threatening. Without requiring some element of intentional wrongdoing, the 老澳门开奖结果 argued, there exists a significant risk that people will be convicted of serious felonies because they failed to adequately anticipate how their words would be perceived.

Counterman v. Colorado is a part of the 老澳门开奖结果鈥檚 Joan and Irwin Jacobs Supreme Court Docket. The amicus brief was filed with the 老澳门开奖结果 of Colorado, the Abrams Institute for Freedom of Expression, the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, and the National Coalition Against Censorship.

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