NEWS- Speech or threat? Free expression wall incident raises questions
Published February 1, 2007 in issue 0605 of the HooK.
By COURTENEY STUART [email protected]
Think you can write anything you want on the Free Speech monument? Think again.When John Giuliano went to the slate wall at the east end of the Downtown Mall on December 27, he says he intended only to exercise his First Amendment rights. But as he walked away from his chalked message, he got a painful surprise: he was taken into custody by Charlottesville police.
"They walked up to me on the corner of East Market and Fourth Street and asked me to talk to them," says Giuliano. "I told them I didn't want to talk to them, and I had nothing to say to them."
That response didn't fly. After a brief interaction, says Giuliano, the officers handcuffed him and took him to Region 10 for a mental health evaluation.
"They perceived my message as a potential death threat," says Giuliano.
The episode highlights the critical-- but sometimes murky-- difference between free speech and a threat, and for Giuliano it meant 10 days of lost freedom.
The message he wrote, seen in the photo accompanying this story, states his name and that he is "entertaining serious thoughts of going down to the local abortion clinic on Hydraulic Road, killing the guards, entering the facility and summarily executing the babykiller."
The message concludes with information about a potential method for carrying it out: "My AK47 is neither registered nor illegal," he wrote, "but it is loaded and ready to rumble."
The 26-year-old Giuliano says he had no intention of actually committing any act and that he has no history of violence. "I don't feel I'm any risk," he says. But his feelings about abortion are powerful.
"Moses commands people to put the evil from among us," he says. "I believe that abortion is an evil act because it's the murdering of an innocent child. It was something I felt like expressing. It would have been right to publicly confess it. That's why I wrote it."
Police, however, didn't see it that way.
"He was detained becase he wrote something that made police fear for people's lives," says Charlottesville Police Sergeant Mike Farruggio. City spokesperson Ric Barrick says police searched Giuliano's home with permission from his mother and "didn't find anything illegal or that would give us reason to worry about his intentions."
So where's the line between expressing your thoughts and getting locked up? The answer, say two free speech advocates, is not clear.
The Supreme Court has established that threats are not protected under the First Amendment, says Josh Wheeler, associate director of the Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression. But the high court, he says, "has not done, in my opinion, a terrific job of defining what constitutes a threat."
Wheeler says the most recent ruling by the court states that "true threats" are statements in which the speaker "means to communicate a serious expression of an intent to commit an act of unlawful violence to a particular individual or group of individuals."
Wheeler says the City attempted to reach him on the day Giuliano was arrested to get his opinion of whether Giuliano's message was protected speech. "The Free Speech wall is simply a monument to the First Amendment," Wheeler says. "It doesn't impart any extra rights beyond what we all have in any situation." Barrick says this is the first such incident at the wall, so the city wanted to be sure it respected Giuliano's civil liberties while protecting those who might be harmed.
While courts decide whether certain speech is a "true threat," Wheeler says, "Reading this statement, I could certainly understand how local law enforcement could infer that this constituted a threat." There are fine semantic differences, Wheeler says, between protected speech and a threat. For instance, had Giuliano changed the beginning of his message to read, "I wish someone would go down to the clinic...." and had he not mentioned an AK-47, his message might not have energized the police.
John Whitehead, founder of the Rutherford Institute, agrees that Giuliano's message is frightening.
"I think that would constitute a true threat," says Whitehead, noting that abortion clinics have been bombed and doctors shot.
"They should see if the guy is serious," says Whitehead. "I think the police did a good job here."
While Whitehead agrees with Giuliano's pro-life stance, he says he should exercise his right to free speech by protesting in the traditional manner: with a picket sign that states his views but doesn't threaten.
Planned Parenthood of the Blue Ridge president/CEO David Nova declines comment on Giuliano's message, saying only, "This is a security matter."
Following his arrest, Giuliano says a Region 10 counselor interviewed him before recommending he be involuntarily committed to a psychiatric hospital in Petersburg. Citing confidentiality laws, Region 10's Buzz Barnett would not comment on the situation, noting only that involuntary commitment is a rare step reserved for situations when other measures fail. But Giuliano says once doctors believed he wasn't having homicidal thoughts-- 10 days after his arrival-- they released him.
Despite his frustration with his experience at the wall, Giuliano says he won't hesitate to visit it again.
"I'll reiterate that I'm still having those thoughts in a different way," he says. "You can't be afraid to make mistakes in life."
John Giuliano's December 27 message on the Free Speech Wall
PHOTO COURTESY CITY OF CHARLOTTESVILLE
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But he was not arrested, only sent to Region 10. Why? Contrast with the way the bomb plot kids where the situation was much less clear. They were charged with crimes and kept in jail for months. What is wrong with this picture!!!
If he made what was believed to be a criminal threat, then he should have been arrested! Why was he handled with kid gloves and those poor kids treated like Charles Manson?
I do, though, meagerly commend him for tacking his name to such an attrocious diatribe. At least he didn't leave us to wonder from whence the attack will come.
Case closed.
But what can we expect when an off duty police officer leads his own department on a high speed pursuit in his personal vehicle? He might have gotten away if he had any driving skills and hadn't crashed into a guardrail at 5th Street and I-64. This same officer now being a supervisor and a role model for the new rookies coming aboard? What type of administration keeps somebody like this on the payroll for 2 1/2 decades?
BTW, does "have their head(s) examined" mean go to a therapist?
What I am really waiting for is an opportunity to discuss some recent sexual harassment in the city. You might even be interested in this caper. It's been pretty well hushed up. Like when a male city employee tells a female city employee she only landed a certain job description because she "got knocked up" and couldn't do what whe she was previously assigned to. I was actually expecting a lawsuit to surface over this sexual harassment. But I think the city discovered a way to smooth this over and make sure this lawsuit wouldn't be necessary. Your tax money at work, Karen. The 1960s era "barefoot in the kitchen" motor mouth who committed this sexual harassment should be sent to see a "therapist". And of course this is not an insult, I think most people would agree it's a fact. What do you think? Since we're now discussing therapists and all.
Jim = hates liberals = creates strawmen.
And how is getting rid of the Wall going to help matters? Thanks to the wall, we now know more about Giuliano and his thoughts about the Planned Parenthood clinic. Seems like it was good that he revealed himself in this venue. Thank you, Free Speech Wall!
We just got slapped with a huge real estate tax assessment.
And cops, paid by those taxes, are standing around reading messages on the free expression wall.
Dammit, go write a parking ticket; generate some revenue to ease the real estate tax burden!
Mr. Giuliano chose to assess the bible as a book of hatred that condones killing other people, in spite of its' many references to love and compassion and kindness and tolerancs and understanding and should I go on here?...
He could have chosen to read the bible as a book encouraging us to get along - there are plenty of references - indeed "commands" - regarding loving your neighbor and getting along and "what you have done to the least of my brethren so you have done to me..."
It's fine, that's the beauty of written words - the reader can interpret them however, and Mr. G sure feels entitled to act on his interpretation.
He therefore should be able to see why the police took him in. They chose to read his message as a threat to the safety of others.
In a country where we are not only free to express, but also free to interpret, he should commend the police for doing as he has done - acting upon their interpretation of the writing.
To the credit of the police, they were interpreting something written "today" and taking action within the pertinent context of today's "real world".
Mr. Giuliano chose to interpret a document several thousand years old in a manner that is equally several thousand years old and then some. I wonder if he has ever had a thought of his own about these matters... It's sad to see that religion still creates people like Mr. G who feel they are stupid and incompetent and unworthy and unable to think for themselves. This is what you get. People who can't recognize that a 2,000 year old reading of a 2,000 year old message is not working in today's world.
So instead of finding fault with the age of the message, the age of the interpretation, the book itself, or their particular prejudices - they find fault where their angry hateful leaders tell them to find fault - in other human beings.
The police know the author and can be sure he wrote it and that he said exactly what he said.
Mr. Giuliano likely does not know Moses, nor was he around when Moses spoke. (If he tried to maintain that he does know Moses, he should have gone to Region 10, and likely should be there still...)
Mr. Giuliano might try updating his view to the NEW testament, which has lots of that lovey stuff in it - and honestly where does Jesus ever say to kill people?
Uhhhh - Jesus brought you the new gospel because you misunderstood the old one, Mr. Giuliano. The new gospel is "god does not want you killing anyone" - "we are ALL god's children" - "love your neighbor" - and the biggie Mr G.... "life is eternal". There's no need to prove yourself worthy, no angry god to please - its not about "how many deaths to I have to cause to please god?" -
Oh hey Mr G, I just checked the e-mail box and this came for you:
Dear Mr. Giuliano,
You were not born in sin. No one was. You are a child of god. Quit thinking that it is okay to end another soul's journey. Quit thinking you are god. In fact, quit thinking and feel. Feel god everywhere, not just where you choose.
Try choosing a life, not a life situation. Stop killing with YOUR hands and blaming what others say is MY word.
You are free to do whatever you choose. If you choose to be a killer, or full of hatred and threats, go ahead, but please stop saying I told you to do it thru some dead guy that you have never met or heard speak.
You're all going to feel really idiotic when you destroy your paradise, kill your earthly selves, then wake up next to me and look around and realize you had it all wrong, now aren't you?
It has taken your race billions of what you call years to evolve yourselves and your planet to this point. Why are you killing each other and destroying the spot in the universe which YOU have created for the purpose of your soul's evolution?
Again, it's okay, but please stop calling it MY plan. My plan is love.
My plan is to let you do whatever you want, to experience whatever YOU choose, and to love you always. Before, during, and after. If you choose to abort a child, so be it. If you choose to kill with an AK47, so be it. If you choose to love, so be it.
And if you choose to be your own authority, and feel truth from within, you WILL find me on your own and not need 2,000 year old words and ideas. I am right inside you Mr. G.
Check your heart.
I Love You,
God
+++++++++++++++++
What a wacky town this is. Next thing you know we'll have the KKK in Gordonsville....
Think I better go part Lake Anna...
You won't catch me shopping or parking anywhere close to downtown. I refuse to support their spending practices of late.
You really should consider moving somewhere else. We have a great quality of life here - you just don't seem to get it.
Stay in Charlottesville and whine about the cops all you want. If you like whining then go for it, but it's not going to make even one teensy weensy itty bitty difference (I should know!)except for pissing off Karen. Go ahead and stay away from the Mall too, because that also won't matter. The Mall is going to do just fine without you. In fact there are already enough grumpy people down there so PLEASE don't go down there.
Speaking of grumpy people on the Mall and other places in Charlottesville I would like to get something off my chest.
THIS IS A GENERALIZATION AND SO IT IS ONLY GENERALLY TRUE. THERE ARE EXCEPTIONS!
Why are black people so much friendlier than white people on a one on one level on the street in Charlottesville? I think that most black people are a whole lot friendlier than most white people. I'm white and when a black man I don't know and I approach each other on the street in Charlottesville there is almost always eye contact and a shared greeting. When I approach a white man I don't know he almost always either looks right through me or down at his feet or suddenly the wall of a nearby building becomes very interesting. Why is this? What are white men so afraid of and why aren't black men angrier? I think that people who want a peaceful, harmonious community would recognize that peace and harmony begin with respect and friendliness at the most basic level of interaction.
There. I'm done. I feel much better now.
While I don't go around posting my entire life in public discussion forums, trust me... you have no idea how wrong you are. And in case you haven't noticed, police departments are having to hire just about anybody who comes along with two eyes and ten fingers lately. You should read some of the reports these people turn in to their supervisors.
Now, let me guess? Your boyfriend or husband is a cop or fireman? Are you one of those who rides to work with their significant other every morning so as to save gas?
If you don't care about waste in spending, just keep paying your taxes with a smile. If you're like some senior citizens in this city, your monthly real estate tax is now higher than the last monthly mortgage payment you paid. And it could easily be forcing you out of the home you have lived in for 40 years. (This too is not my case, but feel free to claim you know it all).
~YOU~ just don't seem to get it. Any better than city hall does.
And I am at a total loss as to exactly how race became a factor in this discussion. I'm white too, if this is some kind of badge of honor. I haven't had trouble finding friendly white or black people on the street in Charlottesville.
I do wish you luck in getting all the grumpy people off the mall though. Maybe their reading about themselves here will be all it takes.
By the way, do you have any idea how much overtime is paid out to off-duty city police officers doing security on the Mall? It must not be a very safe place after dark?
Not an ex-cop - but ex-law enforcement.
Isn't an ex-cop and ex-law enforcement the same thing too?
Let's play your game though. Maybe I am a former Lt. who was pushed out the door (early retirement) for not taking corrective action when a major problem came to my attention? The subordinate is still employed, but I get pushed out the door? This doesn't sound very fair to me. Does it to you?
When this week's edition comes out, have fun going to the archives to respond to old topics. I don't have the time.