State v. Olson, Minn.Ct.App., 12/5/2016. A state trooper came upon Mr. Olson parked in his car with its tires on the fog line. Mr. Olson was shaking, covered in blood and had a golf ball sized lump on his head. One thing lead to another - including a brief chase - and the trooper ended up arresting Mr. Olson for drunk driving.
Mr. Olson was not pleased with this turn of events:
TROOPER: Minnesota law requires you to take a test to determine if you are under the influence of alcohol.
OLSON: I wouldn’t trust you assholes for nothing. None of you. You are all assholes. I get beat up, I’m hurting, I stopped to make a phone call, and now I’m the dick. Just leave me alone.
And so on and so forth. Mr. Olson's parting shot to the trooper was to say, "I truly hope that you are one of the cops that gets their head blown off. ... I hope someone puts a slug in your head, you loser."
A jury convicted Mr. Olson of terroristic threats. Both at trial and on appeal he said that his hopes for the trooper's future were not threats and so the state hadn't proved the charge against him. The Court of Appeals agrees. The court said that Mr. Olson's statements were not direct threats because they did not communicate that he would act accordingly. Nor were his statements indirect threats because he did not engage in either verbal or physical conduct that communicated that he would commit future crimes of violence:
We hold that Olson’s statements commenting on recent violent conduct towards police and expressing hope that something similar would happen to the trooper in the future do not constitute threats within the meaning of the terroristic-threats statute when those statements were unaccompanied by additional surrounding statements or conduct demonstrating that future serious crimes of violence could follow. Olson’s conviction for terroristic threats must be reversed because the evidence is legally insufficient.
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