A teenager from Texas could spend the next eight years in prison if a court decides that the sarcastic comment he made during an online argument is enough to convict him of issuing a terroristic threat.

Justin Carter was only 18 years old when he and a friend got into an online spat over Facebook back in February with another person. They were arguing about the computer game “League of Legends,” his dad told a local ABC affiliate, but one snarky remark made by the teen was apparently enough to raise suspicion in one woman who was watching the conversation unfold all the way up in Canada.

“Someone had said something to the effect of 'Oh you're insane, you're crazy, you're messed up in the head,’” father Jack Carter told KKVUE News, “to which he replied 'Oh yeah, I'm real messed up in the head, I'm going to go shoot up a school full of kids and eat their still, beating hearts.’”

According to the parent, the teenager from Texas followed up that remark with the phrases “LOL” and “JK”— Internet shorthand for “Laugh out Loud” and “Just Kidding.” The Canadian witness wasn’t amused, however, and reportedly conducted a cursory Google search to find out more about the sarcastic gamer. That information led her to learn that the Carter household is located close to a local elementary school, prompting her to alert the police.

Carter, who has since turned 19, was arrested in late March and has so far spent three months and one day behind bars. His trial is slated to begin in July, and if convicted of “making a terroristic threat” he could spend most of his twenties in federal prison.

Under Texas law, a person could be charged with a misdemeanor if he or she “threatens to commit any offense involving violence to any person or property” with the intent to prompt a reaction, cause fear in another or interrupt the occupation of a public place. If the defendant is thought to have made a threat to cause impairment or interruption of a public service, it’s a felony in the Lone Star State.

“These people are serious. They really want my son to go away to jail for a sarcastic comment that he made," Jack Carter told KVUE.

It’s likely that the timing of the teenager’s quip — only two months after the tragic Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting left 26 people dead in Connecticut — didn’t discourage authorities from launching an investigation. His father said his son didn’t mean anything of it, though, and was just being behaving like an average teenager.

“Justin was the kind of kid who didn't read the newspaper. He didn't watch television. He wasn't aware of current events. These kids, they don't realize what they're doing. They don't understand the implications. They don't understand public space,” said Jack Carter.

“If I can just help one person to understand that social media is not a playground, that when you go out there into social media, when you use Facebook, when you use Twitter, when you go out there and make comments on news articles, and the things you are saying can and will be used against you," he said.
Carter’s trial is expected to begin July 1 in Texas. Earlier this month, a grand jury in Massachusetts declined to indict an 18-year-old aspiring rapper who was accused of making terrorist threats after posting prose on his Facebook page that referenced the Boston Marathon bombing. Cameron B. D’Ambrosio was detained for one month in jail and stood to serve as much as two decades if convicted.

"He's very depressed, very scared, and ... concerned that he's not going to get out," Carter's father, Jack, said in an interview with CNN Tuesday. "He's pretty much lost all hope."

Carter, 19, was arrested in February of this year following an argument he had on Facebook regarding "League of Legends," an online video game.

"[S]omeone had said something to the effect of 'Oh you're insane, you're crazy, you're messed up in the head,’" Jack recalled to ABC affiliate KVUE in an earlier interview. "To which [Justin] replied 'Oh yeah, I'm real messed up in the head, I'm going to go shoot up a school full of kids and eat their still, beating hearts,’ and the next two lines were 'lol and jk' [all sic]."

Despite the teen's insistence of "lol" and "jk" -- internet shorthand for "laughing out loud" and "just kidding," respectively -- a woman who came across the comment on Facebook failed to see the humor. She alerted police after realizing Carter lived near an elementary school. On February 13, a judge authorized a search warrant. A warrant for Carter's arrest came one week later, reports WPTV.

Given recent school-related violence, the threat was taken seriously, meaning Carter has been charged with making a "terroristic threat," a felony that carries up to an eight-year prison sentence. His bail: $500,000, reports NPR, an amount his family can't pay, thus keeping him behind bars.

"Without getting into the really nasty details, he's had concussions, black eyes, moved four times from base for his own protection," Jack elaborated on Justin's current condition in jail. "He's been put in solitary confinement, nude, for days on end because he's depressed. All of this is extremely traumatic to this kid. This is a horrible experience."

 SoloFalcon1138 wrote:
He did cross a line. While the authorities may be a bit over-zealous here, he obviously has no internal censor to know what may or may not be misinterpreted.

 SoloFalcon1138 wrote:
He did cross a line. While the authorities may be a bit over-zealous here, he obviously has no internal censor to know what may or may not be misinterpreted.

 Do_I_Not_Like_That wrote:
How is this not a 1st Amendment issue?

JWhex wrote:
The people that need a damn filter are the ones that cannot tell some kid on the web is being a kid from someone that is a real threat.

 Ahtman wrote:

 Do_I_Not_Like_That wrote:
How is this not a 1st Amendment issue?

Because he isn't being censored by the government. Freedom of speech doesn't mean freedom from consequences, or that all speech is protected. I doubt much will come of this, other than using it to gather a few hits on a website using an outrageous title to get attention. Once the woman called the police and told them that a threat was made they can't ignore it and have to look into it. Imagine the fallout if they dismissed it without looking into it and something happened? The article reads more like an op-ed than an investigation.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

JWhex wrote:
The people that need a damn filter are the ones that cannot tell some kid on the web is being a kid from someone that is a real threat.

And pray tell how do you know that just from looking at the text? Do disturbed people use a special font to warn others it isn't a joke? When the Virginia Mall shooter posted on 4chan he was going to do it people just laughed at him and egged him on, until of course it was discovered that it wasn't a joke at all.

 Krellnus wrote:
" ...their still, beating hearts.”

the Carter household is located close to a local elementary school

 MrDwhitey wrote:
Some guy has a My Little Pony avatar.

That's enough to be executed publicly for me.

JWhex wrote:


You do that by conducting a competent criminal investigation before you arrest him and box your self into a political corner.

1Did he have a history of violence
2 Any aressts at all
3 Finish high school?
4 Threaten family, friends or others
5 Have ready access to firearms?

Not that hard of an investigation unless you are a moron, actually.