texas teen faces 8 years in prison for making 'terrorist threat' on league of legends.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/insertco...egends-threat/

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League of Legends is currently the most popular game in the world with 30M+ monthly players, dwarfing most of its competition. It’s a fun title, but can have a dark side to it, namely its often toxic player base that can hurl abuse at unskilled players, or simply because they feel like it. It’s a part of the game, and though it’s irritating, isn’t anything to be particularly concerned about.

But on occasion, online misbehavior goes too far. Such is the case with Justin Carter, a teenager from Texas who has been jailed since February for something he said during a game of League of Legends. The quote? After being called “insane” by another player, Carter responded by saying:

“Oh yeah, I’m real messed up in the head, I’m going to go shoot up a school full of kids and eat their still, beating hearts.”

Though his comments were immediately followed by “jk” and “lol,” the threat was disturbing enough for Justin’s address to be tracked down. When it was revealed he lived near an elementary school, and this was taking place mere months after Sandy Hook, the authorities were contacted and Carter was arrested. He’s been in jail ever since, spending in 19th birthday behind bars for “making a terrorist threat.” If convicted, he could spend eight full years in prison for the comment.

His father says the potential punishment doesn’t match the crime:

“These people are serious. They really want my son to go away to jail for a sarcastic comment that he made…Justin was the kind of kid who didn’t read the newspaper,” said Jack Carter. “He didn’t watch television. He wasn’t aware of current events. These kids, they don’t realize what they’re doing. They don’t understand the implications. They don’t understand.”

I have a hard time believing than anyone could have completely avoided all news about Sandy Hook, as it’s sort of like making a joke about a bomb on a plane and saying you didn’t know 9/11 happened. Still though, he may be right about Justin’s fate. Should someone who is barely an adult spend eight years in jail for an angry offhand comment made in an online video game, however terrible the sentiment? Many don’t think so, and there’s currently a petition to free Justin that’s nearing 5,000 signatures. They’re pitching this as a freedom of speech case, and saying it shows how ridiculous the US’s anti-terror laws have become.

I’m not sure about the freedom of speech angle. You are not in fact allowed to say you’re going to shoot up a school full of kids in a public forum and expect no reprisals from that. But as for labeling Justin a potential terrorist, that’s where things get extreme. If there was no other evidence that Justin had any intention to follow up on this threat, detailed plans, weapon stockpiles, etc, it’s clearly just an offhand comment made by a dumb kid who thought he’d shock nine other people in an online game. His time served should teach him a lesson, and he should probably go to court ordered therapy or something similar. But spend eight years in jail for a one sentence comment? I just don’t think that’s in line with the spirit of the laws that are trying to protect our country.

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so yeah. holy shit. while maybe it was a very dark joke, it was still pretty clearly sarcasm. 8 years. life over for that kid if he gets the big sentence. he has been in jail for months now.

here is the change.org petition for him:
http://www.change.org/petitions/rele...ic-threat-laws

Is there anyone that doesn't live near an elementary school? They're pretty much everywhere.

League of Legends is the new DOTA!

The guy uses internet, right? Then there's no way he doesn't know about Sandy Hook. Hope he or his father isn't stupid enough to use that defense in court.

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Originally Posted by 68k

League of Legends is the new WoW!

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ftfy.

Seriously, the LoL community is even worse than the WoW one...happens when lots of faggots/internet tough guys gather in one place.

As for the arrest: blown out of proportion, you guys should see the shit I've seen during my WoW days...

... mists of pandaria is on sale for $20

:drool_2:

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Originally Posted by hyper

... mists of pandaria is on sale for $20

:drool_2:

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Don't do it.

I'm curious as to why he has been jailed for 4-5 months...

Anyway, this is just the what happens when you have laws using vague language to describe the crime of "making a terroristic threat".

jk

lol

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Originally Posted by lithy

Anyway, this is just the what happens when you have laws using vague language to describe the crime of "making a terroristic threat".

jk

lol

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Nice world we are living in...

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I’m not sure about the freedom of speech angle. You are not in fact allowed to say you’re going to shoot up a school full of kids in a public forum and expect no reprisals from that.

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Say what?

In our gun debate thread, passions ran so high that some people said they wished that whole families were gunned down for suggesting any measure of gun controls. And rabid right-wing xenophobes regularly use violent rhetoric. No one is going to be sitting 8 years or months in prison 'cos this is protected under the first amendment. Anyone that says otherwise is itching for a fight with the lithy and Lagduf civil rights lounge.

This is something that stern reprimand, grounding, withholding allowance or other types of domestic disciplinary measures should take care of. This kid may be stupid with his trash talking, but he's not a terrorist. Proper fucked up, this is.

LOLs almost exactly like DOTA and nothing like WOW. Yeah it's just about the worst online community I've come across.

wtf is sandy hook?
also, bullshit charge.
not like canada is perfect, but glad i don't have to worry about going to guantanimo bay cause i talk shit online.

also to everyone in this thread:

Oh yeah, I’m real messed up in the head, I’m going to go shoot up a school full of kids and eat their still, beating hearts.

you had better call the police, or else i'm gonna kill your kids.

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Originally Posted by skotgun

wtf is sandy hook?

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really?

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Originally Posted by skotgun

wtf is sandy hook?
also, bullshit charge.
not like canada is perfect, but glad i don't have to worry about going to guantanimo bay cause i talk shit online.

also to everyone in this thread:

Oh yeah, I’m real messed up in the head, I’m going to go shoot up a school full of kids and eat their still, beating hearts.

you had better call the police, or else i'm gonna kill your kids.

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You forgot lol, jk.

Sandy Hook is an elementary school that some nutter shot up.

@Chris, honestly it isn't too outrageous to have not heard of it. skot is in Canada, I couldn't tell you a single Canadian current event from the past year.

Lithy, you couldn't even remember the great maple syrup heist of 2012?

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Originally Posted by lithy

@Chris, honestly it isn't too outrageous to have not heard of it. skot is in Canada, I couldn't tell you a single Canadian current event from the past year.

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while thats true, it did make international headlines.

also even if it wasn't heard of, in the time it takes to type that reply, you could google it.

Laws, interpretation of them, and legal sentencing should be objective and not affected by public hysteria, current events, or the like. If the kid would have gotten a slap on the wrist and some community service before Sandy Hook, he should get the same afterwards. Logic is often forgotten in matters of the state, though. No such thing as a fair trial.

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Originally Posted by cdamm

while thats true, it did make international headlines.

also even if it wasn't heard of, in the time it takes to type that reply, you could google it.

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...you do realize that you're giving someone shit, on the internet, for not spending enough time on the internet?

and if i cared enough, i would google.
if i wanted to sort a bunch of shit to get the whole story.
or i can get a cliffs notes here.

do you know that in the time you spent replying to me, you could have saved 13 cats, and 45 old ladies crossing the street?

i have no issue with you, but go fuck yourself.

haha. well played.

i wasnt giving you shit for not spending enough time on the internet. it was just a simple statement you made that could have had a very easy to find answer.
i have no issue with you either. but like i said, man. it was a huge story. there is a pretty big thread here on it too. there isnt much to sort through. a lead paragraph on any search will give you enough to run with. just saying.

like lithy said, it's not my country.
i mean, obviously it's super shitty, and i did look it up.
but it just doesn't affect people not in the US as much as those who are.

also, thanks for being awesome.

Kids these days have to deal with that zero tolerance policy in school anyways.

And this is how a life is ruined by paranoid idiots.

Considering the statement and how absurd it is, at most, an investigation would have been enough...Scare him, send some FBI to his house, but prison??? Even jail time is a tradgedy considering this non-crime. Such a waste of time and money. I can only imagine his family having to fork out cash now to save his ass over something so ridiculous. Take out loans, borrow money, etc, sell their house....Maybe he even gets a record, so he can be basically unemployable for the rest of his life on earth. Totally unnecessary. Whoever is behind pressing charges should be fired and sued for such an abuse of power.

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Originally Posted by MegaGraffin

Considering the statement and how absurd it is, at most, an investigation would have been enough...Scare him, send some FBI to his house, but prison??? Even jail time is a tradgedy considering this non-crime. Such a waste of time and money. I can only imagine his family having to fork out cash now to save his ass over something so ridiculous. Take out loans, borrow money, etc, sell their house....Maybe he even gets a record, so he can be basically unemployable for the rest of his life on earth. Totally unnecessary. Whoever is behind pressing charges should be fired and sued for such an abuse of power.

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honestly the months he has already spent in jail should be punishment enough to scare the shit out of a young person. he has no record. he was never a violent threat. just a sarcastic message left.

Congrats America: you finally suck as much as Russia and China...little more to go before you catch up to Saudi Arabia and then it'll be fucking hilarious when you start bombing other countries to "preserve muh freedumz".

And Sandy Hook was a big deal...A Canadian who knows shit about it probably knows very little about whats going on in his own province as well.

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Originally Posted by Spoon

Congrats America: you finally suck as much as Russia and China...little more to go before you catch up to Saudi Arabia and then it'll be fucking hilarious when you start bombing other countries to "preserve muh freedumz".

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exactly what i was thinking.

the terrorists won, y'all

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Originally Posted by LoneSage

exactly what i was thinking.

the terrorists won, y'all

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They won as soon as the patriot act was passed.

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Originally Posted by cannonball

They won as soon as the patriot act was passed.

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ding..ding. ding..We have a winner!!!!

I think locking this kid away is a good thing.

If there is one thing this country needs, it's less teenagers...
...especially texan teenagers

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Originally Posted by neo_moe

I think locking this kid away is a good thing.

If there is one thing this country needs, it's less teenagers...
...especially texan teenagers

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While I would ordinarily agree with you about getting rid of stupid teenagers, this case sets a scary precedent. I don't want the government to be able to prosecute citizens based on statements made online (or in other forums) regardless of intent or context.

So has it only been since Sandy Hook that people have gotten more paranoid about stuff said online? Also is this game available on consoles or is it PC only? I have never heard of it until this thread but when it comes to crazy shit said online I have never heard worse than Street Fighter IV or Marvel 2 on xbox and ps3. All kinds of threats being yelled at you and then people sending you messages after the match to continue on with what was said.

And on such flimsy pretences....he was close to a fucking SCHOOL?! HOLY FUCK.

Was there any psych evaluation? History of violence? Stockpiles of weapons? Or just a fat kid saying "edgy" shit like the "cool" people do on /b/?
The cops who took him in, the investigators, any lawyers and presiding judges involved + that stupid cunt from Canada need to serve out his sentence (in Guantanamo) and pay off his fines....if you want go after a threat to our way of life, our security and our freedom, look no further than those fags.

The original story says the comment was made on Facebook.
http://www.khou.com/news/texas-news/...212931111.html

doesnt matter where it was written.

I know someone that was expelled because he drew a picture of exploding planes after 9/11. Where was it listed or posted? In the trash. The teacher took it out of the trash, and he was expelled.
The kid never made it back into school, and is now a worthless highschool dropout, because of oversensitive trash diggers.

He's a wierd kid, but was never a violent wierd kid.

Jut think, we'll soon have Kinect 2 in our homees. People will be jailed for saying stuff like this all the time..

/tinfoil

I don't understand how the fuck this kid is still in jail. I mean, this kid http://www.snopes.com/politics/crime/dambrosio.asp got let go for basically the same thing, and he had a history of violence from what I understand. A jury refused to indict him, hopefully this poor fuck in Texas gets "freedom" by similar means.

Trial was supposed to begin today, but not finding any news about it.

Those 5000 signatures can be a big help, namely helping to decide whom to choose from for jury duty during the appeal. XD

I've guilty of hundreds of rape threats if this is the case.

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Originally Posted by 68k

League of Legends is the new DOTA!

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which is sad, LOL was supposed to be the answer to DOTA for people tired of dealing with douches and shitty people.
I stopped playing altogether because the community reached a point where words like "aids" and "peruvian" were used as insults all the fucking time
also only 2 out of 10 matches could be played actually 'till the end.

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Originally Posted by N30_G30_speed

which is sad, LOL was supposed to be the answer to DOTA for people tired of dealing with douches and shitty people.
I stopped playing altogether because the community reached a point where words like "aids" and "peruvian" were used as insults all the fucking time
also only 2 out of 10 matches could be played actually 'till the end.

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People that play LOL in Korea are totally different than in the USA. They're competitive here in Korea but they don't play or act like American players. I played a casual game just to learn it and when I did something wrong, the nerdrage from USA players came out full force. Quite annoying that it was.

a little followup story. looks like the kid is not adjusting well to jail.

http://kotaku.com/life-behind-bars-e...f-le-663988853

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According to the parents of the 19-year-old facing eight years of prison for making threatening Facebook comments, jail has been a horrible experience for Justin Carter. Maybe that sounds like a no-brainer, but reading the specifics of what Justin Carter is undergoing while jailed is kind of shocking.

Parents Of Jailed League of Legends Player: 'It Was A Joke'
Today, the parents of Justin Carter, the 19-year-old League of Legends player facing eight years in prison for threatening Facebook comments he made, … Read…
Yesterday, we learned that Carter is on suicide watch in solitary confinement. But there's more to it according to NPR. Carter seems to be "suffering quite a bit of abuse" according to Carter's parents.

"Without getting into the really nasty details, he's had concussions, black eyes, moved four times from base for his own protection...he's been put in solitary confinement, nude, for days on end because he's depressed. All of this is extremely traumatic to this kid. This is a horrible experience," Carter's father, Jack, told NPR.

Carter is currently in jail because he jokingly told another League of Legends player that he was "going to go shoot up a school full of kids and eat their still, beating hearts,” followed by “lol” and “jk”.

He was charged with making terrorist threats and is currently awaiting trial. If convicted, he can face up to 10 years in prison according to NPR. The bail, meanwhile, is set at $500,000, which Carter's attorney says he has "never seen" despite representing murderers, terrorists, and rapists in the past.

A new hearing is scheduled for July 16th, at which point Carter's attorney will bring up the issue of abuse.

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God Bless America.

This is an example of how incredibly stupid, out of control and idiotic we have let our country become.

I predicted this shit years ago, on account of the decline of the nuclear family and the rise of the feminine mommy left.

People are so out of touch with objective reality at this point they are living almost in 'The Matrix' now.

And no one realizes that the thing that causes school shootings is the media itself.

In the 90s people were relatively stupid, but I could handle them, they hadn't become the Eloi from HG Wells yet.

But now... OMFG some of my worst predictions have come horrifically true and it's pretty surreal.

A significant part of the American population these days is delusional paranoid ignoramus without a shred of individualism or the capacity for critical thinking.

God damn! Poor kid! Clearly he was a bit of a dick but he's probably gonna be in therapy for the rest of his life trying to get over this...

you just watch this kid is dangerous, at least by the time he gets out of jail he will be capable of doing what he had joked about previously.

I hope this kid gets to sue the living fuck out of the state when he's freed. There's no way they can actually convict him on anything, he had no intent.

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Originally Posted by neobuyer

I predicted this shit years ago, on account of the decline of the nuclear family and the rise of the feminine mommy left..

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Your absence along with Rayphex has been tough on me, thank god someone gets it.

In the past...in other parts of the world, a nations slide into a corrupt shithole banana republic was usually based on extremity from either side of the political spectrum (or the absence of both).

Only in America can you get limp wristed, leftist faggotry and right wing borderline fascist corporatism working together on turning a once feared, loved, and respected country into a fucking joke.

Mock feminism, the promotion of promiscuity, divorce, etc. are all products of the leftist welfare state, while never ending war, paranoia, and the prison industrial complex are products of a right wing police state. Thanks to the dissolution of families and the undermining of a mans role in raising a child, the left produces (and accommodates) criminals and idiots, while the right makes its money putting those idiots in jail or sending them to war.

In America the unseen hands Mussolini and Stalin are working together on a shared vision lol.

All very frustrating to read, how can basic common sense elude such a large number of educated people? I hope there's some fallout after this for everyone involved.

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Originally Posted by Spoon

Your absence along with Rayphex has been tough on me, thank god someone gets it.

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Thx, I've missed you and Takumaji, Rarehero, etc. myself. (leaving a lot of people out here)

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Originally Posted by Spoon

In the past...in other parts of the world, a nations slide into a corrupt shithole banana republic was usually based on extremity from either side of the political spectrum (or the absence of both).

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Yup, where the parties rabidly disagree with everything the other one says not based on cooperation, merit or reality, but on a primitive us-vs-them tribal level. Which is where our once more civilized and sophisticated nation sort of used to be.

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Originally Posted by Spoon

Only in America can you get limp wristed, leftist faggotry and right wing borderline fascist corporatism working together on turning a once feared, loved, and respected country into a fucking joke.

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And a joke ruled by the internet/media, which operates by getting people glued to their tv sets/monitors to sell advertising- via the nations soccer moms and absentee, pussy fathers. And people just conveniently ignore the fact that America has always had guns, and the school shooting phenomenon only began with Columbine which was because it was a 24/7 media clusterfuck. And now everyone's got a video camera integrated into practically every device they fucking own- it's become the ultimate way for insane psychopaths to 'be a star', all thanks to stupid dumbasses, the internet and reality tv.

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Originally Posted by Spoon

Mock feminism, the promotion of promiscuity, divorce, etc. are all products of the leftist welfare state, while never ending war, paranoia, and the prison industrial complex are products of a right wing police state. Thanks to the dissolution of families and the undermining of a mans role in raising a child, the left produces (and accommodates) criminals and idiots, while the right makes its money putting those idiots in jail or sending them to war. In America the unseen hands Mussolini and Stalin are working together on a shared vision lol.

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Yeah, there has been a fundamental collective obliviousness to the obvious notion that you need to raise quality, well formed and properly educated children who will grow up to be contributing members of society that at least think for themselves on a basic level.

I don't know about you and the rest of the guys here, but when I was growing up, my over protective, emotional and wildly illogical mother wasn't some political activist lobbying congress to ban the use of motorcycles so her son wouldn't ever have the opportunity to buy one.

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Originally Posted by stevenk

All very frustrating to read, how can basic common sense elude such a large number of educated people?

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texas. the answer is texas.