California Court of Appeal

Dismissal of a felony complaint against a man who made alleged threats were made in the lyrics of a so-called "rap song" distributed on the Internet and was charged with Penal Code Section 140(a), which makes it a crime to threaten a crime victim with violence, is reversed and remanded for resumption of proceedings where the trier of fact determines what constitutes a threat, and the lyrics were not necessarily protected speech which could not constitute a criminal threat within section 140.

Appellate Information

• Decided 07/22/2015
• Published 07/22/2015

Judges

• GILBERT

Court

• California Court of Appeal

Counsel