Man arrested for CNN threats, needs criminal defense strategy

Man arrested for CNN threats, needs criminal defense strategy

Georgia is the proud home base of CNN News, but being a member of a news network these days can be a harrowing experience at times. Recently, the tension was raised a few notches in CNN’s Atlanta headquarters. The company reports that a man from another state plummeted the company with a barrage of allegedly threatening and harassing phone calls. He has been arrested and now will need to explain to criminal defense counsel what motivated him to act. 

The man allegedly badgered the station with at least two dozen calls on Jan. 9 and 10 in which he threatened to travel to Georgia to kill everyone in the station. Federal authorities in the accused person’s home state apparently investigated and filed a federal criminal affidavit in federal court. They arrested him on unspecified charges that reportedly carry up to a five-year prison sentence.

The charges are likely to be for using interstate communications devices to engage in terroristic activities or something along those lines. Whether charges can be filed also in Georgia is an open question, but the federal courts are set up to transfer the prosecution of cases in certain instances from one district to another. In either event, witnesses from CNN who received the calls will likely have to testify in the proceedings. 

In an almost humorous aftermath to the events, the man’s father is reported to have told reporters that his son “did not mean any of it,” and that it was all a big mistake. Those reasons will hardly hold up for the man’s counsel who must now construct a viable criminal defense. If the news reports are accurate, the accused will not benefit from defending the charges, except upon a plea of insanity or other similar mitigating circumstances. Seasoned defense counsel will know how to best approach the matter with an eye to obtaining treatment for the accused and attempting to protect him from a sentence of incarceration.

Source: androidevo.com, “Police arrest man who threatened to kill CNN employees“, Alfred Osbourne, Jan. 23, 2018

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