Court Opinion

ID: 9474444
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 04:57:18.714997+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:44:04.933155
License: Public Domain

LOGAN, Circuit Judge,
dissenting in part:
I concur in all of the decision except Part II D, treating the necessity for an instruction that defendant must have intended to carry out his threat.
When a threat is made directly to the President, or in such a manner that it is reasonable to expect that it would reach the President or the President’s security personnel, we have held that it is unnecessary for the government to prove the defendant actually intended to carry out the threat. In Welch, for example, proof of actual intent was unnecessary when the defendant repeated his threat against the President to an employee at a state mental hospital, after he had been warned that, if the threat was repeated, it would be reported to the Secret Service. Welch, 745 F.2d at 616. In addition, the defendant in Welch repeated his threats to agents investigating his prior remarks. Id. at 616, 618. Welch thus follows the pattern in this circuit on proof of intent in threat cases. See, e.g., United States v. Dysart, 705 F.2d 1247, 1256 (10th Cir.) (threatening letters mailed to President), cert. denied, 464 U.S. 934, 104 S.Ct. 339, 78 L.Ed.2d 307 (1983); United States v. Smith, 670 F.2d 921, 923 & n. 4 (10th Cir.1982) (threatening letter mailed to President); United States v. Hart, 457 F.2d 1087, 1090 (10th Cir.) (threatening call made to FBI), cert. denied, 409 U.S. 861, 93 S.Ct. 150, 34 L.Ed.2d 108 (1972).
I agree that this approach is consistent with the purposes of the statute. The primary purpose of § 871 is to ensure the President’s safety. When an individual communicates a threat in such a manner that it reaches the President or those charged with his protection, it is permissible to infer an intent to carry out that threat in light of the overwhelming importance of safeguarding the President. The secondary purpose of § 871 is to ensure that threats do not impair the President’s movements or ability to perform the duties of that office. United States v. Patillo, 438 F.2d 13, 15 (4th Cir.1971) (en bane); accord Roy v. United States, 416 F.2d 874, 877 (9th Cir.1969). This secondary purpose is undermined when a threat is communicated to the President or those charged with protecting him, regardless of whether the defendant actually intends to carry it out. Thus proof of intent is, and I think should be, unnecessary in these instances.
When a threat is made that is not intended to reach the President or his protectors, and in a context in which it is highly unlikely to be so communicated, I believe a substantially different situation is presented.
First, when a threat to the President is made to a companion, friend, or as here, a psychiatric nurse administering to the de-*837clarant, the statement is much more likely to be idle talk or political commentary. We must recognize this is so even though we approve of charging a jury that it must measure the “true” nature of the threat by how the hearer would interpret it.
Second, under 18 U.S.C. § 871 the very utterance of a threat is punishable. This comes very close to punishing mens rea alone. Ordinarily, for criminal liability to attach, there must be an act in addition to the requisite intent. This ensures that an individual is not punished merely for having evil thoughts. When a threat is communicated to the purported victim, the act of communication itself corroborates the intent. Therefore, actual intent to carry out the threat need not be shown. Actual intent is presumed from the communication or attempt to communicate the threat. When a threat is not communicated nor intended to be communicated to the object of the statement, however, some further evidence that the individual has done more than think evil thoughts ought to be shown. Proof of actual intent to carry out the threat is needed to demonstrate the reality of the threat itself; Any other rule vests far too much power in the government at the expense of the individual.
Finally, when a threat is made to one not intended to carry the message to the President or his protectors, and in circumstances highly unlikely to reach those people, the threat does not reasonably impair the President’s movement or his ability to perform the duties of his office. In that case the only justification for punishing the utterer would seem to be if a real danger to the President exists. I would therefore hold that the government in such a case must prove actual intent to carry out the threat.
The Fourth Circuit recognized this principle in United States v. Patillo, 481 F.2d 293, 297-98 (4th Cir.1970), aff'd, 438 F.2d 13 (en banc) (1971). In Patillo the defendant told a fellow employee that he was going to kill President Richard Nixon. Patillo, 431 F.2d at 294. The employee informed his supervisor, who in turn informed the Secret Service. Id. A Secret Service agent then secreted himself in the trunk of the defendant’s car, where the agent heard the defendant again threaten the President. Id. at 294-95. The Fourth Circuit held en banc that when a “threat against the person of the President is uttered without communication to the President intended, the threat can form a basis for conviction under the terms of Section 871(a) only if made with a present intention to do injury to the President.” 1 Patillo, 438 F.2d at 15 (emphasis added). Although this intent can be presumed when a threat is published, it cannot be presumed when the threat is made in a context unlikely to reach the President or his protectors. Id. at 15-16.
In the case before us the threat was made in a manner inherently unlikely to reach the President or his protectors. When a patient in the psychiatric ward of a hospital utters to a nurse who is treating him a threat against the President, and that patient has been undergoing treatment expressly designed to help him control such outbursts, it is unreasonable to assume that he intended or believed that the threat would be reported to law enforcement authorities. Accordingly, in the circumstances of this case, I believe defendant was entitled to an instruction that the prosecution must prove that he intended to carry out his threat. Therefore, I respectfully dissent from the majority’s position on this issue.

. I recognize that several courts have questioned the Patillo standard. None of the cases, however, involved facts at all similar to those in Patillo or the case before us. See, e.g., United States v. Callahan, 702 F.2d 964, 966 (11th Cir.) (threatening letter mailed to president-elect), cert. denied, 464 U.S. 840, 104 S.Ct. 133, 78 L.Ed.2d 128 (1983); United States v. Kirk, 528 F.2d 1057, 1063 (5th Cir.1976) (threat communicated to Secret Service); United States v. Rogers, 488 F.2d 512, 514 (5th Cir.1974) (threat against President made to local police), rev'd on other grounds, 422 U.S. 35, 95 S.Ct. 2091, 45 L.Ed.2d 1 (1975). Although I agree with the holdings in these cases, I would not extend them to "uncom-municated” threats of the sort involved in the instant case.