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Twitter Death Threats Hurled at Martin Case Judge
 

Twitter Death Threats Hurled at Martin Case Judge

Published April 23rd, 2012

After pressure from media outlets, circuit court judge Kenneth Lester unsealed records in the Martin case on Monday.
He also let George Zimmerman out on bail- something that's not sitting well with  some following the case, and they're taking it out on Twitter.
Samantha Doucette, a journalism student at the University of Florida, is shocked over some of the opinions popping up on Twitter.
"That's outrageous," she said, talking  about death tweets directed at Judge Kenneth Lester,  after Zimmerman was released on bond.
"Essentially these people are going after the legal system itself and it's integrity by attacking a judge," said Clay Calvert, a First Amendment expert at UF.
Calvert says law enforcement will get involved.
"Would reasonably, a judge who receives these messages take it seriously as a threat of great bodily injury or death," he said.
In february, a Monroe County judge did take a threat seriously.
Michael Haggerty, 48,  was arrested and charged with "making threats to kill or injure someone," after allegedly posting a comment on his Facebook page directed at a judge.
"The fact that it's on the internet, or essentially a tweet, and pretty much in the air and digital, doesn't make any difference in the law's eyes," said Calvert.
 Threatening tweets could be a second degree felony in the state of Florida, and comes with a five-year-prison sentence if the author is charged federally.
 Doucette is in the process of setting up her own twitter account, but isn't taking it too seriously.
"It's something I should do for fun, and on my spare time, and not really where I like to throw out all my views on the table," she said.

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