Portland man arrested for mailing noose to NAACP leader

[Are_grits_groceries]

CLEVELAND, Ohio – A Portland man was arrested Wednesday and accused of civil rights and mail violations for sending a noose in February 2008 to a regional director of the NAACP in Cleveland.

Daniel Lee Jones, 33, is alleged to have used the Postal Service to send a noose to the home of Jason Upthegrove.

The FBI said Jones sent hate literature to residents of Lima, Ohio, where an African American woman was recently shot by a police officer. During that time, Upthegrove was speaking out in the community against the mailings and for equal police service for African Americans.


http://www.kgw.com/news-local/stories/kgw_100809_news_noose_arrest_jones_fbi.1f8283650.html

What a sweetie. Got what he deserved.

[CurtEastPoint]

1. And that is a face and heart full of hate. Sad. n/t

[zanne]

2. Amen to that. What a creep. nt

[imdjh]

3. Not good for PR, the ACLU will probably have to come to his defense.

If guilty of mailing threatening communications, Jones faces a maximum of five years in prison and $250,000 in fines. If guilty of interfering with federally protected activities, he faces up to a year in prison and $100,000 in fines.

I would see this as a free speech issue and quite possibly grandstanding on the part of the FBI. My prediction is that this won't hold up. If it does, then so much free speech could fall into the category of "threatening communications".

Does that mean that mailing photos of Aushwitz to the JDL is a crime? What about mailing articles about Matthew Shepherd to a gay rights organization? IN both of these cases, the intent depends upon who is doing the mailing, the return address if you will. And that's why it's a free speech issue.