This story was originally published by Seacoastonline. NHPR is republishing it in partnership with the Granite State News Collaborative.
An attorney for Tyler Anderson of Dover is arguing text messages he allegedly sent threatening to "disembowel" and "impale" a presidential candidate are protected free speech under the First Amendment.
Assistant federal public defender Dorothy Graham is representing Anderson, 30. He has been indicted on three federal counts of transmitting in interstate commerce a threat to injure the person of another, announced previously by New Hampshire U.S. Attorney Jane Young’s office. Each charge carries a sentence of up to five years in prison, up to three years of supervised release, and a fine of up to $250,000. He has pleaded not guilty.
Charging documents filed in his case accuse Anderson of sending threatening text messages in response to texts from presidential candidates’ campaigns between Nov. 22 and Dec. 8. Former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy’s campaign reported in early December he was threatened prior to a breakfast campaign event at the Roundabout Diner in Portsmouth on Dec. 8.
The first charge alleges Anderson texted one candidate’s campaign with a threat to “impale” and “disembowel” the candidate. The second charge alleges Anderson threatened to “blow” the head off of another candidate and conduct a “mass shooting,” while the third charge alleges Anderson threatened to “blow” the “brains out” of a third presidential candidate and “kill everyone” who attended the candidate's campaign event and desecrate their corpses.
