Wash. man sentenced for Facebook threat to 'shoot up' schools
MOUNT VERNON, Wash. - A Washington man who threatened to shoot up schools if his gun rights were taken away after the Connecticut school massacre was sentenced Thursday to three months in jail.
The Skagit Valley Herald reports 19-year-old Korry Martinson of Sedro-Woolley pleaded guilty to felony harassment in an unusual plea agreement with prosecutors.
If a mental health evaluation indicates he could pose a danger to the community, the plea will remain. But, if the evaluation yields no concerns for future behavior, he could withdraw his felony plea and plead guilty to gross misdemeanor harassment instead.
The Sedro-Woolley case is separate from a similar case in Camas, Wash. in which a man posted he hoped a school would be shot up after a high school basketball game. That man, Jeff Berni, 39, apologized and did not face charges.
Martinson made the threat on Facebook on Dec. 14, the same day as the mass school shooting in Newtown, Conn.
The threat was seen by several people, who reported it to the Sedro-Woolley police and the Skagit County Sheriff's Office.
Martinson's mother also was contacted by several callers. When she confronted her son about the posting, he got into an argument with her and took off before police arrived at his home.
Martinson finally turned himself in a few days later, when a friend brought him to the Sedro-Woolley police station. He was placed under arrest and booked into the Skagit County Jail for investigation of felony harassment.
A screenshot of the Facebook threat allegedly posted by Martinson said:
"Okay, so about that shooting of the little kids.
"I would personally like to thank the man who did this. You will (be) looked upon as a hero in my eyes. You have rid the world of 20 future s------- and w-----.
"I say good riddance, and that we need more people like you. It's the government's fault as to why these things happen.
"If this causes our gun laws to be taken away, to the point as to where I cannot own a gun, I will personally get my sawed off double barreled shotgun and my AK-47 and go shoot up every school within a 100-mile radius of my current location."
Lt. Lin Tucker of the Sedro-Woolley Police Department said the threats shook up many people in the community.
Felony stupid !
So now we put our "faith" in the hands of a single persons opinion of anothers mental health...I just hope the "professional" isn't out hunting Bigfoot and ET so the can continue their conversations. Â
 @DaCoast I worked with the so called mental health professionals. Not many of them have a clue about the real world. Common sense evades them.
 @irsmart  @DaCoast it is obvious that neither one of you are a mental health professional and do not understand the important part mental health professions plan in a society. Society is cruel, harsh, contradictory and dangerous Mental health professional help those ill equipped or overwhelmed to handle the stress of "modern society". How does one teach their children not to lie when our politicians lie all the time; how does one teach their children to love and respect others when they see people killed because they are different; how does one teach their children not to kill when churches advocate killing people of other religious faiths.  And yes I do believe Mr. Martinson is mentally ill when he says he will shoot up schools if he, a single person, believe his rights to own a gun are challenged too much. And yes i believe his gun rights need to be revoked for his statements
I see a little of 'Mojo Nixon' in this and so much for telling society what he thought even though I see no personal treats against any one person that is named. Nothing like Elvislution... Â http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_hkIN38qnY
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And does this 19 year old kid OWN an AK 47, because if he does, it should be removed. Â Anyone who owns such a weapon and makes this kind of comment should cease to have the weapon until he or she has done some serious time in a psych ward, or assisted on a few hundred autopsies of gun victims...
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Another Second Amendment "supporter" in the tradition of Ted Nugent who loose their mind and discredit responsible gun owners. Â
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My question is: Why doesn't anybody advocate banning religion because Westboro Baptist is so universally offensive. Or, possibly eliminate free speech for the same reason? Clearly, the only way to eliminate the offense of Westboro Baptists is to eliminate the Constitutional Rights that they are abusing.Â
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I support the rights of Americans to own guns and practice free speech and religion and to be secure in their person and their homes from unlawful and unreasonable search but when a person so violates the responsibilities upon which those rights must necessarily hinge such that the rights of others to feel secure in their person are infringed and that social harmony and public peace is disrupted then it is only reasonable that THAT individual should forfeit some of their rights so that every responsible citizen may return immediately to the enjoyment of their rights unencumbered. Â
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It makes absolutely no sense to deprive all citizens of their rights because of the bad behavior of a few deviant personalities. Â
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Icarus wrote:
"It makes absolutely no sense to deprive all citizens of their rights because of the bad behavior of a few deviant personalities."Â Well Icarus, try saying that to the face of a mother whose child just had his face blown away by some gun lover.You may not survive the encounter. Those who live by the gun should perish by the gun. As for banning religion because of the Westboro Church, that "church" is not a religion. They are a hate group like the KKK, the Nazis or Al Queda.So banning the WBC is not he same as bannig religious rights. You gun lovers hang on to your guns as if it were your dicks. If there were no guns, then there'd be no school shootouts or dead children.Every gun lover is a potential terrorist.
 @Icarus How is that working out for you??
So.. what exactly was the crime here? Pretty horrible thing to say / rant online but... I'm just wondering what "law" he actually broke. Felony harassment? It was a comment to nobody in particular so.. I'm courious how that went down. Probably got him on a technicality like if you said something bad about our nation's leader like that, etc. 3 months? Hopefully this guy will learn his lesson and get some anger management / help.
 @Liberty4_WAÂ
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"Free" speech is not protected if it incites violence that is likely or imminent. Â Is it likely? Â Possibly. Â He does claim to have access to several guns, including an assault rifle (AK-47 is an assault rifle right?). Â Imminent? Â Also possible. Â He did provide a "definite future time" in his wording. Â The law is ambiguous but regardless, I'm glad this psycho is in jail for now. Â
I agree with EdgarDerby. Furthermore, with free speech comes responsibility. Words and ideas can hurt or even kill and when that happenes, we should take responsibility and face the consequences.Everyone knows the difference between good and evil or right and wrong. So with that in mind, we should know what is ok to say and what is not. Regardless of one's spiritual or non-spiritual beliefs, "Love Thy Neighbor" is a concept that would bring world peace and security if it were practiced on a more global level. But it all begins at home and with loving parents or guardians. It also begins in our churches but these days, one seldom hears prachers preaching about love.
I am confused? Â What makes one threat any different than another? Â Kids post threats and get expelled. Â As a parent I think all threats should be treated equally. Â The first one you don't take seriously will be the one you should have.
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 @SmockitÂ
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Maybe because he was loud, offensive, and armed and some of his facebook friends thought he was likely to be kinda crazy.
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Why do mainstream urban family prefer Labrodoodles over breeding pit-bulls?
I complained about the other post and Free Speech. I agree with the response this guy received. He did make a threat, mentioned what weapons he would use, the proximity of location and obviously may have mental stability issues. I'm happy they are evaluating this individual. However, a word to the wise, if they do take away his guns, when he gets out, he will obtain a gun (Buy, steal, borrow) and carry out what he discribed.
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This is another case of WordsAre Not Free.
What was he thinking?
Oh wait, he wasn't thinking at all!
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that was an emotional day for everyone. and because of this tragedy, you are willing to selectively sacrifice our freedoms of speech?
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i know on september 11 2001 there were alot of death threats made by angry Americans against other people, why arent all those people in jail?
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you cant turn freedom on and off when it offends you... think people
 @Rey Arteb Hi. Whackjob gun-owning 2nd Amendment freak here.I think I can speak for every parent across the spectrum here: You don't get to hurt our kids and if you threaten them, we will take your freedom to carry out that threat. Inalienable right, natural law, whatever. That's the way it is. Left and right, we've all pretty much settled that debate, and we're cool with it.
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 @Fed up Fed  @Playanekes  @Rey Arteb This is REALLY scary stuff for everyone, especially right now.  While I agree with the stance both of you have taken here on defending our children, I have to play devil's advocate and say, it's very difficult for me to justify arresting this stupid kid without him actually doing anything other than making a stupid threat.  By this account, hundreds of people should be locked up for making idle threats every day.  The part of this that really frightens me is......What is going to happen when this guy gets out?  Do you think he is going to be happy?  Probably not.  Probably won't be in jail long either. So what have we accomplished by arresting this guy?  I would like to know what the so called experts think about what the likelihood is that this guy will do something to get payback when he gets out.  That's what I'm afraid of most.  I hope he never gets out, but I think that is very unlikely.
Hmmmmm...usually the media likes to report that such and such guns were removed from the home and have the pictures to prove it. Where are the pictures? Is it possible he had no guns and was just a big mouth idiot. Also if he could fool the shrinks and get his charge reduced to a gross misdemeanor harassment, would he get his gun rights back?
How stupid! He shouldn't have posted that, but he sure as hell shouldn't of been arrested. If they arrested everyone who said something threatening online, the prisons/jails would be more full than they already are.
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I understand people's anger and frustration with these "threats" because these shootings are happening more and more it seems. We arrest him for it and then what? Most likely he will not be charged with a felony unless he has a record, he might get a fine or let off entirely.
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If they choose to make this guy an example, then the State of Washington better be prepared to prosecute EVERYONE from Washington that has made a threat online. Including those who make comments like, "If I see that guy with my girlfriend again, I'll kill him!" or "If I saw Casey Anthony in public, I'd make sure she got what she deserved!".  This man's threat is no different than the two examples I just gave, a threat is a threat is it not?
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Wake up people and realize that we are slowly losing our Constitutional rights. If people posting stuff is such a problem, then maybe we should just do away with FaceBook then? Isn't that where the majority of these types of comments are coming from? Just like the government wants to do away with file sharing sites because they help people infringe on copyright, well FaceBook is helping people to bully and make threats.Â
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There will always be a-holes that say stuff like this, but we just have to ignore it.
@Troy Fawcett Would it have been well within his constitutional right to threaten the President's life on Facebook?
 @Troy Fawcett You're right... We should just ignore it, until he starts shooting up schools...
This can be summed up very easily. This man probably thought that he was using his 1st amendment right to free speech. But alas, he was not. And as for his second amendment rights, they are no longer an issue, as he pleaded guilty to a FELONY!!! Felons aren't allowed to own a firearm, so the argument for that is quite mute. Now what he said was idiotic and of poor taste, and he will have to face up to them, but he DID know that he did was wrong, or he wouldn't have run from his residence. Here's what I am thinking. People all throw their interpretation of the 1st and 2nd Amendments into the forum when something like this comes up. How about this, make our children learn this stuff in school before they can graduate. A person that seeks citizenship has to know more than our children do, and that is where we are failing. For once lets stop pointing fingers at the culprit of these posts, and educate the masses of what freedoms we truly have, and how they can and cannot be used. An educated populous is a safe populous, an ignorant one is sure to fail. Â
 @James Geogold Lyman ",,,argument is quite mute." Mute means without sound, which wouldn't be much of an argument. You mean "moot", as in not applicable.
I would like to take the time to point out the irony of how this man exercising his first amendment rights could (and probably should) lead to the loss of his second amendment rights.
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None of those rights are ever granted completely free and unrestricted.Â
 @Festivus Nor should they be. If you wrongfully threaten somebody with a gun, you lose that right too. As a gun owner, I have no problem with that law.
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The problem is when some guy kills his grandmother and they let him out of prison after a few years because the system is arrogant enough to decide that it has "rehabilitated" this individual.Then it doesn't matter what's free and unrestricted because he's not going to obey the law anyway.
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 @Playanekes I agree.  Abuse of the right and it becomes a privilege, no longer a right.
Some "FRIEND" this guy had on FB.
Now there is someone that no doubt should not own any guns or have access to any guns.
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This paranoid mentality has to stop.
  People for decades have spouted out stupid stuff and never carried through with any of it. We have 1st ammendment rights and what they have done here has takes them away form this individual.
   No this Idiot should never have done what he did, but people, taking his constitutional rights away would be no different then taking your constitutional rights away no matter what that right is.Â
   Maybe he gets kicked of facebook, but to take him to jail is deffinately agains his rights.
  I agree what he did was wrong, but it is his right. The constitution says so, unless he acturally acts on what he says.
 @Conservative IndependantÂ
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"People for decades have spouted out stupid stuff and never carried through with any of it."
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Actually many people have carried through with their threats, both in the past and present. Â And it only takes 1 psycho to cost many innocent lives.Â
 @Conservative Independant Libel, slander, and inciting others to violence are also examples of speech that is not protected, by the way.
 @Fox Hollow Man  @Conservative Independant as is screaming 'fire' in a movie theatre
 @BCH mom  @lee986321 Um....Yeah....
 @lee986321  @diddy_bop  @Fox Hollow Man  @Conservative Independant Funniest post ever!  Oh wait, I think lee was being serious......
 @BCH mom you'll have to excuse her, she has a 'turret's' like syndrome that causes her to never make any sense.Â
 @margay1  @lee986321  @diddy_bop  @Fox Hollow Man  @Conservative Independant I would seriously doubt that Tourette's is involved at all.  Sounds like a case of anti-social personality, the type who like to glorify criminals.  Often they lack empathy for people and displace their anger on targets that have no bearing on their situation.  And they can be very dangerous individuals...
 @lee986321     WRONG...mother of person with Tourette's Snydrome...they do not get to shout whatever they want without some social repercussions,  and most have Some control.  Those who really lack it also lack a lot of things...some people cannot attend church because THAT is where they curse.  Others if they DO love to shout Fire (and I don't know any who do), would have to stay out of theaters.  Unless you know people with it, don't use them as examples, ok?
 @lee986321  @diddy_bop  @Fox Hollow Man  @Conservative Independant Tourette's Syndrome. Not turrets. You will find those on houses, castles, and military tanks.
 @margay1  @lee986321  @diddy_bop  @Fox Hollow Man  @Conservative Independant There's a musician in Europe who has TS and puts videos of himself playing songs on YouTube. It's hilarious because he's totally upfront about it and doesn't mind you laughing in order to better understand the affliction. It's definitely a tic, not something that would compose itself into articulate written sentences.
 @str1ngb3nd3r My ribs hurt. Guys with Turrets syndrome are always spinning around looking for Jerry, screaming "GIT SOME!! GIT SOME!!" or "RAPUNZEL...let down your hair!!!"
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Sorry, Lee. My autocorrect does that too.
 @lee986321  @diddy_bop  @Fox Hollow Man  @Conservative Independant ~ Not at all sure that Tourette's Syndrome would be a viable defense here (even if it were being considered), Lee... According to my (limited) understanding of that disorder, the people are prone to spoken outbursts of language that is sometimes obscene and senseless - it doesn't have any actual "meaning" or cognitive intent to them...
Mr Martinson, however, wrote up a very specific message and posted it on FB on the same day as the Newtown shootings. Â Â It refers to that event, although not by name, and it contains a distinct threat, in which he says that if certain things occur (gun ban), Â he will do certain other things (shoot up schools). Â Â
This guy probably does have some mental issues... but I don't think Tourette's is one of them...Â
Turrets Syndrome protects him? What a solid defense!
 @diddy_bop  @Fox Hollow Man  @Conservative Independant Unless the person has Turrets Syndrome. then they are able to shout what ever they want. as they have no control.
 @Conservative Independant Sorry, but you are mistaken.  Making threats of violence is not, nor has it ever been, protected free speech.  Nor should it be. Â
I believe in the 1st and 2nd amendments (that's free speech and the right to be armed, for those who don't know), but making  threats is not protected speech.  3 months in prison seems quite appropriate if he is made to serve every day of that sentence.
 @Fox Hollow Man 3 months for that? So if you had a 19 yr old and say he caught his woman cheating, and he takes her back and says to her that if he ever catches her with another guy again he'll kill the guy, then your 19 yr old should do 3 months for threatening as well?
 @Troy Fawcett  @Fox Hollow Man Yes!
Yeah, he was trolling and this is probably an overreaction but come on. The man made a public threat on a public forum. What did he expect?
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The lib-tards won't even give consideration to reason, logic or facts. Did he think this was going to sway them?
 @Conspirator What's ironic is that every time someone uses words like "lib-tards," it just makes them look that much more ignorant and hypocritical.Â