◆ SpookStack

Declassified Document Archive & Reader
Log In Register
Reader Ad Slot
Reader Ad Slot placeholder
If you would like to support SpookStack without paying out of pocket, please consider allowing advertising cookies. It helps cover hosting costs and keeps the archive free to browse. You can change this choice at any time.

John Murtha — Part 1

92 pages · May 10, 2026 · Document date: Feb 4, 1998 · Broad topic: General · Topic: John Murtha · 86 pages OCR'd
← Back to feed
women and young girls.” Id. One of these accounts named an actual young woman, resulting in defendant’s prosecution under § 875(c) for interstate communications containing threats to injure another person. Id. The court considered whether these messages, which were not sent directly to the woman who was the purported victim, constituted true threats. It concluded they did not: To determine what type of action Congress intended to prohibit, it is necessary to consider the nature of a threat. At their core, threats are tools that are employed when one wishes to have some effect, or achieve some goal, through intimidation. This is true regardless of whether the goal is highly reprehensible or seemingly innocuous. For example, the goal may be extortionate or coercive.... Additionally, the goal, although not rising to the level of extortion, may be the furtherance of a political objective. ... Finally, a threat may be communicated for a seemingly innocuous purpose. For example, one may communicate a bomb threat, even if the bomb does not exist, for the sole purpose of creating a prank. However, such a communication would still constitute a threat because the threatening party is attempting to create levity (at least in his or her own mind) through the use of intimidation. .... Although it may offend our sensibilities, a communication objectively indicating a serious expression of an intention to inflict bodily harm cannot constitute a threat unless the communication also is conveyed for the purpose of furthering some goal through the use of intimidation. ... If an otherwise threatening communication is not, from an objective standpoint, transmitted for the purpose of intimidation, then it is unlikely that the recipient will be intimidated or that the recipient's peace of mind will be disturbed. Even if a reasonable person would take the communications between [defendant] and [the recipient] as serious expressions of an intention to inflict bodily harm, no reasonable person would perceive such communications as being conveyed to effect some change or achieve some goal through intimidation. Quite the opposite, [they] apparently sent e-mail messages to each other in an attempt to foster a friendship based on shared sexual fantasies. Id. at 1495-96. Under either standard, Fenton’s statements did not constitute threats. As in Bellrichard, there was simply no connection between Leventry, the recipient of the communication, and 10 AO 72A (Rev. 8/82)
OCR quality for this page
Community corrections
First editor: none yet Last editor: none yet
No user corrections yet.
Comments
Document-wide discussion. Follow the Community Standards.
No comments on this document yet.
Bottom Reader Ad Slot
Bottom Reader Ad Slot placeholder
If you would like to support SpookStack without paying out of pocket, please consider allowing advertising cookies. It helps cover hosting costs and keeps the archive free to browse. You can change this choice at any time.

Continue Exploring

Use the strongest next step for this document: continue reading, jump to the topic hub, or move into the matching agency collection.
Continue Reading at Page 88
Jump straight to page 88 of 92.
Reader
John Murtha — Part 25
Stay inside John Murtha with another closely related document.
Topic
FBI Documents & FOIA Archive
Open the FBI agency landing page for stronger archive context.
FBI
John Murtha Topic Hub
See the topic overview, related documents, and linked subtopics.
Hub

Agency Collection

This document also belongs in the FBI Documents & FOIA Archive landing page, which is the stronger starting point for agency-level browsing and for searches focused on FBI records.
FBI Documents & FOIA Archive
Open the agency landing page for introduction text, topic links, and more FBI documents.
FBI

Explore This Archive Cluster

This document belongs to the General archive hub and the more specific John Murtha topic page. Use these hub pages when you want the broader collection context, linked subtopics, and more documents around the same archive thread.
letter bureau
Related subtopics
Sen Joseph Joe Mccarthy
42 documents · 2653 known pages
Subtopic
D B Cooper
41 documents · 13789 known pages
Subtopic
Kansas City Massacre
38 documents · 5300 known pages
Subtopic
Black Panther Party
36 documents · 3066 known pages
Subtopic
Malcolm X
36 documents · 3932 known pages
Subtopic
Supreme Court
36 documents · 3376 known pages
Subtopic