Donte Jamar Sims has been arrested by the Secret Service for making Death threats against President Obama. A series of five tweets sent on September 2, 2012 led to the felony criminal complaint.
One of the tweets said, "Ima hit president Obama with that Lee Harvey Oswald swag." The Smoking Gun reports that at first, Sims "smiled" as the five threatening tweets were read to him at the time of his arrest. However, his demeanor quickly changed after he arrived at the police station.
Agent Wayne Bourg, Jr. said that Sims "asserted that he was sorry he sent the messages threatening to kill the President of the United States and provided me with a written apology." Of course it is reasonable to pursue valid charges against the president, but arresting this man does seem to be overkill.
The story is reminiscent of the plight of Brandon Raub, a marine who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, who was involuntary committed to a psychiatric hospital in Virgina after posting "terroristic" threats on Facebook. Fortunately, he was released, but after 6 days of being detained. The judge overseeing Raub's case concluded that the involuntary commitment petition against Raub was "devoid of any factual allegations."
At the Democratic National Convention, at least one woman threatened to kill Mitt Romney. New York delegate Julia Rodriguez stated, "Romney will destroy this country completely! If I see him, I would like to kill him!" Will she be detained?
What is the criteria for determining a credible threat? How about the death threats made against Scott Walker? There was a flood of these threats and some were even aimed at the Governor's family. The police said they were looking into it, but were there ever any arrests?
How about the violence inciting rhetoric of the New Black Panther Party? They actually encouraged people to bomb white nurseries.
In his Twitter account, Donte Jamar Sims also said he was planning on voting for Romney, has a problem with Christianity and homosexuals, and seems to have a thing for Lil Wayne and Michelle Obama. Perhaps it was the fact that he said he was voting for Romney that really alerted the Secret Service.
It seems as though Sims had a prophetic "tweep":
@destroyleague_d You better stop Tweeting that before the FEDs come looking for you . lol
— Lord$ Never Worry † (@ElegantAF_) September 3, 2012
*Photo Credit: Smoking Gun
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Comments: 31
Surprised me but shouldn't have. I don't know the story. But that was the first time I realized all the work they have to go to keep the President safe. Who knows how many were put in prison?
I guess there are a lot more mixed up people out there than we think. The higher the number of loose nuts the more chances one will do the unbelievable :)
Here is the thing: The fourth amendment does not allow citizens to be subject to unreasonable search and seizures. Is going through Twitter/FB an "unreasonable" search? It is like "proactive" crime hunting. I don't think so, I think cause comes first, than a warrant, than arrest. It does not seem to be always the case. Look at the Brandon Raub case, how is that constitutional?
I see a HUGE inconsistency. It is blatant.
I do not trust Obama and all his fellows to have integrity in dealing with the citizens. I feel like they will take advantage of all the info they get for their own reasons. But I don't think there's anything we can do about it.
He is not just or honest, but no one in government, as far as I know, is doing anything much to stop it. If we get Obama again, and I think we will as I'm sure he's already paid off lots of people to carry out cheating schemes.
I wonder about your client - how did they know to look into him? Was he arrested before, for example? Anyway - obviously we should all be careful about what we write - and we should not have any expectation of privacy. So nice to see you, Glome! ;-)
If they arrest one, they should arrest both. Although, at this point, this all looks like hot air with no credible means to carry out the threat. That does not excuse the stupidity of saying such things though.
The law is supposed to be blind and fair to all.
Here are the Rules:
If you threaten the Life of the President of the United States, and you are a Male, you've just bought yourself an arrest.
If you threaten the Life of the President of the United States, and you are a Female...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Threatening_the_President_of_the_United_States
Does the same law apply to someone making threats to a a person who is not yet a President but who is in prime position to become one?
Have you posted about the hackers who claim they store Romney's tax records from PriceWatherhouseCoopers and want $1 million?
It gets back to the concept that you are automatically innocent until you actually do something wrong, at which time you are now guilty. I would rather wait until action is taken by the perpetrator (PURPLE TRAITOR???) before the authorities do something than the authorities arbitrarily rounding up innocents looking for guilt. Witness Brandon Raub.