Federal Criminal Defense Lawyer Michael Leonard contains no BOP prison time sentence in social media threat case. Michael Leonard of Leonard Trial Lawyers, along with Damon Cheronis of the Cheronis Parente LLC law firm, recently obtained a sentence that did not include any custodial BOP time for a client/defendant in a long-running Federal criminal prosecution arising out of social media posts that allegedly contained threats.
The case was originally charged by Federal prosecutors back in 2019 by way of an Information, and the defendant was subsequently charged by way of Indictment in 2020. The Indictment, and later the 2023 Superseding Indictment, charged the defendant with violating 18 U.S.C., section 875(c), because he purportedly “knowingly transmitted in interstate commerce a communication
containing a threat to injure the person of another, namely, a post on his iFunny account.”
Ifunny is a social media application/platform that users could go to to communicate with others, including in groups. The defendant made certain posts that jokingly indicated that he was going to cause harm to a clinic and challenged Federal agents. When about a dozen Federal agents arrived at the defendant’s home (where he lived with his parents) much later to search it, they discovered that the defendant had done absolutely nothing to carry out this alleged threat and had no means to do so. Nonetheless, Federal prosecutors brought charges against the defendant – which kicked off a five-year ordeal for this young defendant.
Michael Leonard and Mr. Cheronis could not persuade the District Court to dismiss the case, including on First Amendment and other grounds.
Accordingly, the case proceeded to trial, and the defendant took the stand and testified – and testified well – at trial. The Government offered the testimony of two clinic employees. Remarkably, those employees had never heard about the threat and it was only brought to their attention by Federal agents. It was the those Federal agents who advised the clinic employees to initiate certain security precautions. The Government also introduced testimony from the one person – out of tens of thousands on social media – who claimed the threat was real. After extensive jury deliberations, the defendant was found guilty.
However, at the recent sentencing hearing, Michael Leonard successfully argued for, and obtained, a sentence that did not include any BOP time. Mr. Leonard and Mr. Cheronis also attend to Appeal to the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals.
This case is illustrative of how hard and how long a defendant and his counsel have to fight to preserve the client’s rights and liberty. Leonard Trial Lawyers is always ready for such a fight.
Matthew Chivari
Leonard Trial Lawyers
December 24, 2024
