United States Second Circuit

Conviction for threatening to use a weapon of mass destruction and delivering a threat to injure through the U.S. mail, stemming from a hoax anthrax mailing defendant prison inmate sent to the state's attorney's office, is affirmed over claims that: 1) the statutes under which defendant was convicted criminalized only threats of future action and that his conduct did not fall within this definition; 2) the letter was insufficiently credible to constitute a "true threat"; 3) the government failed to establish a sufficient link with interstate commerce, as required by section 18 U.S.C. sectoin 2332a; and 4) the indictment failed to allege that his letter was addressed to a "person," as required by 18 U.S.C. section 876(c).

Appellate Information

• Decided 08/30/2006
• Published 08/30/2006

Judges

• WILLIAM K. SESSIONS III, District Judge., Before LEVAL and B.D. PARKER, Circuit Judges, and SESSIONS, District Judge.

Court

• United States Second Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellees:
  
• Stephen B. Reynolds, Assistant United States Attorney (Kevin J. O'Connor, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, and William J. Nardini, Assistant United States Attorney, on the brief), Bridgeport, CT, for Appellee., Timothy P. Pothin, Lynch, Traub, Keefe & Errante, P.C., New Haven, CT, for Defendant-Appellant.