United States v. Wheeler

Kenneth Wheeler was convicted of two counts of transmitting a threat in foreign commerce under 18 U.S.C. 875(c) based on Facebook posts that called upon his "religious followers" to carry out violent acts. Wheeler was sentenced to forty months’ imprisonment on each count to run concurrently, and three years' supervised release on each count, also to run concurrently. On appeal, Wheeler argued that his convictions should have been reversed because: (1) the jury was not properly instructed that it had to find Wheeler had a subjective intent to threaten in order to convict; and (2) the evidence was insufficient to support a finding that Wheeler transmitted a "true threat." Not persuaded that the evidence was insufficient to convict, but finding that the jury was not properly instructed, the Tenth Circuit reversed the conviction and remanded the case for a new trial. View "United States v. Wheeler" on Justia Law