A facetious Facebook post can now be a Terroristic Threat in Pennsylvania

The Pennsylvania Superior Court has upheld a Washington County ruling that a person who remarked “Let’s shoot them and start over” on Facebook, during a school strike, can be convicted of Terroristic Threats. Terroristic Threats is a Misdemeanor of the First Degree, removing a host of rights including the right to possess firearms. Mr. Shallenberger was also incarcerated for 2-23 months for his conviction. While the determination of a person’s intent is best made at trial by someone witnessing the trial, how could they possibly prove that George Shallenberger, the defendant in the case, actually intended to terrorize the teachers rather than merely make a facetious, flippant comment on is frustration over the strike? How many times have people told the joke about 1000 lawyers at the bottom of the ocean being a good start? Do we arrest them all for Terroristic Threats? This seems to me a particularly bad precedent, and one that will be cited often by prosecutors to win cases that don’t deserve to be in Court. Are we as a society ready to outlaw flippant, facetious comments? Can we as citizens feel safe making such comments on Facebook any more? Please let us know your thoughts in the Comments section below.