League of Legends player who reportedly made 'terrorist' threat faces up to 10 years in prison

This article was originally published on GameSpot's sister site onGamers.com, which was dedicated to esports coverage.

The Texas teenager who was jailed after an argument from League of Legends spilled over onto Facebook now faces up to 10 years in prison for the crime, according to a new report in the Dallas Observer.

Carter was arrested in March after comments made on Facebook following a League of Legends match. After another player called him crazy, Carter responded by saying "I'm fucked in the head alright, I think Imma shoot up a kindergarten and watch the blood of the innocent reign down."

He reportedly followed up these comments with "lol" and "jk". A woman in Canada saw his comments and informed the Canadian authorities, who then sent the tip into the Ausin Police Department. The tip sent in reportedly had the narrative that Justin Carter made up a number of threats on Facebook to shoot up a class of kindergartners. Based on a Texas prosecutor's belief that there was probable cause to charge Carter with a third-degree terroristic threat, a judge issued an arrest warrant. that sent U.S. marshals to arrest Carter for making a 'terrorist' threat.

Carter spent four months at the Comel County jail, where his attorney Don Flanary, says he was on the receiving end of several brutal attacks. An anonymous person posted Carter's $500,000 bail in July.

"This whole thing is totally and completely bonkers", Flanary told the Dallas Observer regarding this entire ordeal and several of the details along the way. "He definitely was not kept safe, and that's why it's not good to have innocent 18-year-old [guys] in jail with very, very dangerous people."

Flanary says that in no way should Carter's comments be considered a 'terroristic threat' as defined by the Texas Penal Code. He compares the Facebook comments to a fight on the playground or what we see the comment sections of every day from our favorite websites - just a couple of people mouthing off. Flanary cited two key federal court rulings which said "There must be a clear and present danger, and there must be a true threat. And if you don't have a true threat, then the First Amendment protects your speech. Plain and simple."

"The way that the criminal justice system is supposed to work and was envisioned by our founding fathers is: First you prove the crime, then you get the punishment," he says. "That's clearly how it's supposed to work. But now, in Justin's case, [it's] 'Let's do the punishment first and then we'll see if we can prove the crime later.' he damage has been done. And I suspect they know the damage has been done. I suspect that maybe one of the reasons they're holding on so hard is because they fear a lawsuit".

On a phone call today, Flanary tells onGamers that he will be filing for a motion to dismiss the case late this week on the basis of habeus corpus. The basis of habeas corpus requires a person under arrest to be brought before a judge or onto court, ensuring that a he or she can be released from unlawful detention lacking sufficient cause or evidence. Flanary says that the motion will outline all of his complaints around the case. The original hearing date was to be February 24th, but Flanary says it will take the prosecution a few weeks to respond.

Flanary thanked the gaming community for their support for Carter throughout the case.

"I am surprised and disappointed that the case against Justin Carter is still being prosecuted despite his obvious innocence.", Flanary told onGamers. "The actions alleged by the state are clearly not a crime and his words are protected by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution."

"We are so thankful to the tens of thousands of Americans who support Justin. The gaming community too has been very supportive and for good reason. We live in a world now in which the government has the power to scrutinize every word and thought we utter online. Americans have a choice in whether they want their elected officials to monitor and criminalize their words and thoughts or to let us all live in a free society."