Is he charged with anything? I only saw a reference to a "terrorist threat", what kind of fucked up country is one that gets you ten years in jail for joking about committing a crime? Don't you actually have to commit the crime to go to prison, usually?
Not at all. Thousands of innocent people at sitting in our jails as we speak. Most of them will never be free. But that's beside the point.
He's not in prison, he's in jail, and there's a big difference.
Depending on the circumstances, you could sit in jail your whole life while you await some technical process to complete. You don't even have to be charged with anything.
Yes, you have to commit the crime - but that can mean a lot of things, including planning or threatening some other crime. Conspiracy is still a crime, for example.
Outside the internet, death threats are serious business and usually a crime, regardless of whether you have the actual intent or ability to kill someone.
Likewise there's that tired old example of yelling fire in a crowded theater (though i don't think that applies here)
On or off the internet, an alleged death threat is subject to considerations of actual intent. Following up a comment with "lol/jk" as he ACTUALLY DID pretty much deflates all the billowy claims of his death threat.
But that is conveniently omitted in popular reporting.
Wasn't the "crowded theater" analogy originally conceived to support the passage of the Espionage Act in America? It might be tired and old now, but was never even legit to begin with.
