Relative: Man convicted of threatening Sen. Murray was inspired by Beck
October 28, 2010 4:02 pm ET by Sarah Pavlus
According to publicly available documents filed in federal court, a cousin of Charles Wilson -- a Washington man sentenced to prison last week for repeatedly threatening to kill Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) after she voted in favor of health care reform legislation -- said Wilson's "fears were grown and fostered by [Glenn] Beck's persuasive personality."
Wilson's cousin's comments were made in a letter -- one of 25 submitted by
Wilson's public defender in which Wilson's friends and family attested to
his character. In a sentencing memo, Wilson's
attorney requested leniency, noting "[t]he period of time in which he
committed the offense conduct is totally aberrant when one looks at how Mr.
Wilson has lived the rest of his life."
Wilson's
cousin, who is related to him through marriage, wrote in a September 17 letter:
What happened later with Charlie is something I think I can understand. He became basically housebound due to illness and his small world became even smaller. His brother got him a computer and he was able to stay connected with family. And he watched television and found Glenn Beck... I found Glenn Beck about the same time Charlie did. I understand how his fears were grown and fostered by Mr. Beck's persuasive personality. The same thing happened to me but I went in a different direction with what I was seeing. Rather than blame politicians for the current issues, I simply got prepared for what Glenn said was coming. I slowly filled our pantry as Glenn fed fear into me. I did not miss watching his show and could not understand why the rest of the world didn't get it -- Glenn became a pariah to me. But I was finally able to step away and realize the error of my ways. The media lost its grip on me. But it still held very tightly to Charlie.
While his actions were undeniably wrong and his choices were terrible, in part they were the actions of others played out by a very gullible Charlie. He was under the spell that Glenn Beck cast, aided by the turbulent times in our economy. I don't believe that Charlie even had the ability to actually carry out his threats.
A letter from another relative said:
Charlie was never a man to be interested in politics until his health kept him home more and he got his first computer. His world was small and he seemed to spend most of his time at home watching television and on his computer. I truly believe that the recent events surrounding universal health care and its ramifications literally scared him beyond comprehension. He has had many surgeries in the past and has battled some major health issues. With his world being so small, he lost faith and sight of reality. I believe he is even mildly agoraphobic -- in the past ten years he rarely left the Yakima valley and I honestly don't think he could have driven very far.
As long as I have known Charlie I have never known him to be violent or threatening. I have never witnessed any overt anger issues nor have I seen him shout or strike anyone or anything. He has always been a person to help others not harm them.
Wilson, who pleaded guilty, was sentenced to a year and a day in prison on
October 22. On October 25, the Seattle
Weekly noted
Wilson's
cousin's comments about Beck.
In court documents, federal prosecutors pointed to several voicemail messages Wilson left for Sen. Murray that raised
"serious concerns," including:
"Just remember that as you are politicing for your reelection. It only takes one piece of lead. . . . Kill the fucking Senator! Kill the fucking Senator! I'll donate the lead. . . . Now that you've passed your health-care bill, let the violence begin. Let the violence begin."
"By your attempts to overtake this country with socialism, somebody's gonna get to you one way or another and blow your fucking brains out, and I hope it does happen. If I have the chance, I would do it."
"Kill the fucking Senator! Hang the fucking Senator! I hope somebody puts a fucking bullet between your fucking eyes. Far left liberal socialist democratic bitch. You mother-fucker. You sold the fucking people of the country out for socialism. I hope somebody fucking erasers your fucking life. Yes, I hope somebody assassinates you, you fucking bitch."
"We are going to fuck you up. We are going to fuck you up as bad as we can. Yes, the independents. The real people of this country, not you spineless fucking socialists. You better watch your fucking back, baby, because there's people gonna come after you with fucking both fucking barrels, bitch."
According to a sentencing memo submitted by federal prosecutors, the government "views Wilson's offense as an extremely serious one. ... This sort of conduct - especially in the aggregate - has a corrosive effect on our representative democracy." From the memo:
The government views Wilson's offense as an extremely serious one. The very survival of our representative democracy rests on the ability of our elected officials to execute the duties of their offices, and to run for election, without fearing the sort of reprisal - death and acts of violence - threatened by the defendant in this case. This sort of conduct - especially in the aggregate - has a corrosive effect on our representative democracy. Although it now appears that Mr. Wilson had no intention of carrying out his threats, this was not known to Senator Murray's office or the FBI while his offense conduct was ongoing.
[...]
The government submits that it is important for this Court's sentence to deliver a strong message in order to ensure respect for the law and to provide adequate deterrence against this sort of behavior in the future. Among the many virtues of our democratic system is the fact that American citizens are provided with numerous vehicles to appropriately express their political views - including opposition to certain laws or the votes cast by elected officials. Mr. Wilson was obviously entitled to his views in opposition to the Healthcare Reform Act. How he chose to express those views was unlawful and, in fact, threatened to undermine the very democratic system he claimed to be "protecting." The Court's sentence must be forceful enough to deter others who, out of anger or fear, may be inclined to make similar threats against elected officials. We respectfully submit that a sentence of one year in prison is necessary to accomplish the essential goals of ensuring adequate deterrence and respect for the law - a shorter sentence will not send the same deterrent message.
And that would be the death panel.
If these people who have been voted in to office make choices that, in effect, stomp all over the Constitution (which they swore to uphold) , isn't that an act of treason? Last I heard, treason is a Capital Offense. But nobody has the intrepidity to make the accusations that are glaringly obvious.
This man should be pardoned by the Governor and given a street named after him. It's about time a little fear of stepping all over the Constitution has some consequences! If anyone runs for Senator or the House of Representatives and they don't plan on upholding the Constitution, they should be afraid....they should be very afraid of the consequences. If they are not, then you tell me why they should be able to feel at peace while trashing the Constitution?
OWN IT.
http://www.bnet.com/blog/advertising-business/6-terrorists-inspired-by-fox-news-and-glenn-beck/6399
People have free will, that's true. But it is also undeniable that there are many people that are menatlly unbalanced, and Glenn wants them for viewers. He feeds them with conspiracy theories, and violent hateful rhetoric to incite them into action. Does he want them to vote or kill people? I can't say for sure. But people are killing for Glenn, and people have warned Beck not to continue with his 'there is gonna be blood in the streets rhetoric.' Beck just laughs at each new revelation of murders committed in his name. He is no better then Charles Manson. He has no business on television. Beck, Fox, Murdoch, and Ailes all have blood on their hands. And they are celebrating it.
When out nation's media has been degraded down to the level of Glenn Beck and Fox News, anything goes.
Can you help out a fellow American here? If I exercise my Constitutional right and express an opinion critical of what Glenn Beck says on the airwaves, that is just me stripping Glenn Beck of his First Amendment right to freedom of speech.
Am I close?
Best regards,
The New Pilgrims
The New Pilgrims knows exactly what the First Amendment says.
This is an interesting bit from Cornell Law School's website:
"The Supreme Court requires the government to provide substantial justification for the interference with the right of free speech where it attempts to regulate the content of the speech. ...The Supreme Court has also recognized that the government may prohibit some speech that may cause a breach of the peace or cause violence."
It's interesting that the government may prohibit some speech if the Supreme Court approves it, but the obvious ramification is more violence or a revolution of sorts if the government took action against FOXNews, etc. I'm sure our leaders know this and would not censor anyone unless it was absolutely necessary. Until then, threatening stalkers will be put behind bars, where they should be.
Since we see the dangerous things Beck spews on a daily basis here, read his transcripts, see the videos, and hear the audio, his constant rhetoric of how the United States is crumbling (it's not), how democrats, and especially Obama want to destroy the country (they don't), selling gold to hedge against economic disaster, selling seeds so when the end comes, you can grow food, talking about making sure you have enough guns and ammo, and so on.
But of course, don't do anything violent.
Glenn's entire repetoire is wrapped and dripping in violent rhetoric, and yet, he's the stereotypical coward who is not strong enough to do anything about it himself, and instead, relies on others to take up arms where he doesn't want to.
He's a huckster, and I don't know why people can't see that.
That's called anarchy. And robbing people or killing those who disagree with you is exactly what Glenn and his Beckerheads are doing, respectively.
For people who supposedly "love the constitution," tea partiers sure haven't actually read the thing. I mean, Christine O'Donnell didn't even know that Freedom of Religion was in the First Amendment in a recent debate. That's ridiculous!
They will never accept any repsonsibility for their words and take no blame for what their listeners do, but we all know what is really going on here.
Betcha' all that 1st Amendment stuff would disappear overnight.
Mark David Chapman was inspired by Catcher in the Rye
just like , John Hinckley, Jr.'s (also inspired by Salinger) assassination attempt on Ronald Reagan, (only ya'll would probably be happy if he would have succeeded
Robert John Bardo's shooting of Rebecca Schaeffer, and other murders have also been associated with the novel
I like how ya'll point the blame at everyone but those responsible. How is it not the guys fault who threatened to kill him?
You mean the guy who was arrested, charged, pled guilty and was sentenced for the crime? The guy who's doing time right now? That guy? Yeah, gee, you're right - he isn't being held responsible at all.
It was a "her" that he threatened to kill, by the way. Do try to keep up.
and it doesn't matter if it's entirely fictitiousness (wait, Catcher in the Rye isn't a true story?? who'da thunk it???"
what I'm saying is Beck didn't say "go out and do a bunch of death threats"
he condones violence, and if you'd watch his show, and base your opinion on that instead of what this progressive, liberal blog says you'd know that (I really don't see how you can progress past the Declaration and the Constitution, unless you're obama and have no problem violating it on multiple instances)
I'm saying that the nobody really inspires you to do something, you choose to do it yourself..
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/disgraceful-beck-hater-disrupts-national-anthem-to-protest/
did ya'll see this,
I'm all for this guys right to protest, his right to come out and say "glenn beck is the source of all the problems in this country"
--- but during the National Anthem???
wow, just, wow
First, I would like to say that, despite not having a Bill of Rights in our Constitution (instead we use the English Bill of Rights of 1689, as well as Magna Carta, Habeas Corpus Act of 1679 and the Parliament Acts of 1911 and 1949, since for most of our history acts passed in the British Parliament considered to have Empire/Commonwealth-wide implications also have effect here, not to mention various conventions we have signed) we have freedom of speech, as ruled by our High Court. This, however, comes with certain strings attached, one of which is that the freedom of speech is to be used responsibly. Anything which can be regarded as incitement to violence (an indictable offence here) is not protected under our freedom of speech conventions, especially if such incitement can be proven by witness testimony or evidence produced in a case in a court of law.
In my opinion, Master Beck et al can be accused of incitement to violence, and there is at least one other example, so far as I know, where his speech has caused an individual to go out and commit crimes of violence. Surely you Americans should be able to have him tried for incitement to violence on the testimony not only of those who have committed such violence but also on the testimony of witnesses as to the mindset of those who have committed such violence. From the evidence presented here Master beck at least could be charged in an Australian court of law if he had incited violence here.
If it weren't for the obvious tragedy and cost of a human life, it would almost be nice to see someone commit an atrocity in Glennda's name, simply so he could wake up and see what he's doing. Mind you, he'd probably find some way to wriggle out of the responsibility.
In the matter of Master Beck et al, whether what they publish constitutes political communication as defined by the High Court is one matter and the matter of incitement to violence is the other. There is an intersection if one were to argue that the element of incitement renders it no longer "political communication" i.e. incitement to violence trumps political communication as far as content goes.
As an observation: I suspect that Beck wouldn't get very far in Australian broadcasting - people would be laughing too hard at his histrionics to understand what he was saying even if they were inclined towards his politics.
You guys are nuts!
Didn't ted kasinsky find some type of encouragement from the dear algore while he was sending bombs to kill indiscriminately?
Just wondering...
Speaking truth to/about progressive power with an obamian shout out to my peeps in the SEIU, getting ready to do what they do best around elections!