Court Denies Conviction In Alleged Super Bowl Massacre

Court Denies Conviction In Alleged Super Bowl Massacre

A federal appeals court in San Francisco has denied the appeal to reinstate the conviction of an Arizona man, Kurt Havelock accused of planning a Super Bowl massacre, saying his rambling did not constitute a threat to people.

Kurt Havelock, who did not attack, was convicted in 2008 of mailing threatening messages after he sent a disorganized letter to the media outlets that promised to "test the theory that bullets speak louder than words."

Havelock instead turned himself in to police, saying he changed his mind after sending the letter and taking a weapon and ammunition to a parking lot near University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, where people gathered before the National Football League championship game.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 9-2 of a full 11-judge panel on Friday that Havelock's rambling message did not violate the law because it was addressed to corporations, not individuals.

Judge Betty Fletcher wrote that the law refers to communications containing "any threat to kidnap any person or any threat to injure the person of the addressee or of another." Those terms mean people, not media entities, she said.

Havelock's lawyers said the letters were not meant as a threat, but as a continuing explanation, since he was expected to be killed during the attack.

Havelock was sentenced to a year and a day in prison, which he has already served.

Posted by Andre Monohan on Tuesday January 10 2012, 4:38 AM EDT. Ref: Yahoo. All trademarks acknowledged. Filed under Nation. Comments and Trackbacks closed. Follow responses: RSS 2.0