Supreme Court of California

Conviction for attempted criminal threat is affirmed, where: 1) to avoid First Amendment concerns associated with criminalizing speech, the offense of attempted criminal threat requires proof that the defendant had a subjective intent to threaten and that the intended threat under the circumstances was sufficient to cause a reasonable person to be in sustained fear; 2) when a defendant is charged with attempted criminal threat, the jury must be instructed as to the subjective intention and objective fear-causing elements; and 3) the defendant's threats were sufficient under the circumstances to cause a reasonable person to be in sustained fear.

Appellate Information

• Decided 08/28/2014
• Published 08/28/2014

Judges

• Liu

Court

• Supreme Court of California

Counsel