It is completely absurd that making a sarcastic comment can be a crime that means a decade in prison. Shouldn't there be some common sense included in the justice system? Here in Finland there have been lately some similar cases, and in all of them as far as I know there was some simple investigation about the real motives but no charges and no jail time.
I think that's usually the case in the US too. I've heard cases where people joke about some kind of president attack on their blog and getting a secret service visit shortly after. They tend to get a stern warning, as the investigators likely have better things to do and can understand the difference between a comment made in jest and a credible threat.
Unfortunately we do have a huge problem with prosecutorial abuse.
They make a valid point that it's probably not something you should joke about, especially because similar comments led to actual attacks. The part where insanity comes in is where many people are seemingly incapable of acknowledging the degree of wrongness, and think this warrants anything more than a police visit. Instead, they opt to effectively ruining his adult life, which he had barely started. For nothing. Society is not better off, we are not safer, we wasted a life because someone wanted to make a point.
investigation about the real motives but no charges and no jail time.
The US has shifted towards charging everything and anything remotely possible, maybe investigate, then plea down to something that only looks good because of the extreme first set of charges. Brilliant strategy from the p(er|ro)secutors that keeps cases from going to court and pads their stats with lots of 'wins.'
