Woman charged with threatening healthcare firm by using CEO killer's words
Woman charged with threatening healthcare firm by using CEO killer's words
Authorities say she echoed words connected to the murder when she allegedly said "delay, deny, depose, you people are next".
Summary
Briana Boston, 42, was charged with threatening a health insurance company after repeating words linked to the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.
During a recorded call with Blue Cross Blue Shield about a denied claim, Boston said, "Delay, deny, depose, you people are next," echoing phrases engraved on bullet casings at Thompson’s murder scene.
Authorities allege she exploited the CEO’s homicide to make the threat.
Boston, a mother of three with no prior criminal record, was arrested and held on $100,000 bail amidst warnings of potential copycat incidents targeting healthcare executives.
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Without knowing more, it is the “you people are next” that makes this a threat in particular. You should easily be able to say deny defend or depose or whatever, just don’t use threats
Hence why we have an actual standard for this...
A random housewife giving a vague threat at the end of an already heated call by referencing a recent event involving the company, really doesn't come close to the definition.
this isn't a first amendment issue.
It's illegal to shout "BOMB!" in an airport even if there is no bomb, and you have no intention of setting one off. further, it's also illegal to shout "FIRE!" in a crowded theater.
It's also pretty much illegal everywhere to call in bomb threats or similar, even merely as a prank.
this isn’t a first amendment issue.
It very much is.
It’s also pretty much illegal everywhere to call in bomb threats or similar, even merely as a prank.
Hence why there is a legal distinction for true threats like that... which you chose to completely ignore for whatever reason (probably because it negates your entire comment).
It's not any different than telling someone that you wish they'd die. That's not a threat. No one in their right mind would think she, herself, was making a direct threat against anyone at the company based on the context of the conversation. Only dumbfuck keyboard warriors on the internet trying to look smart but too lazy to click any links because it might conflict with their idea of reality.
How to tell no one has ever threatened you.
Glad you live a safe law protected by laws.
I’ve worked contract security and have had people threaten me over being told they can’t park in a handicap space to pick up their spouse.
I’ve had those same people then try and follow me home, then tell the cops we happened to be going the same way. (Despite it being hours later.)
You cannot tell who will and who won’t.
A threat was communicated and a threat was meant to be communicated. That’s enough to satisfy the first amendment’s need for subjective “intention.”
Which is why this isn’t a first amendment issue. Boston meant what she said, and we know that; because she doubled down on it with the cops.
It isn’t the intention to carry out the threat, it’s the intention to make the threat.
How to tell no one has ever threatened you.
I've worked front line call center just like this situation. I've had a shit ton of threats. None of them were ever going to do shit, most of them were much worse than what she said.
If her statement is the bar, then at least 3/4 of calls into any customer service number would result in an arrest. If we're going to apply the law equally, then we need to apply it equally and arrest 3/4 of the population.
In person threats are a completely different situation than an escalated customer service call.
This is a common misconception. It's not illegal to say anything like "bomb" or "fire" in a public place, at all.
What you could get charged with in those situations is something like, "inciting a riot", or "disorderly conduct". These depend on how people around you react to your words or actions, but doesn't depend on the actual words used.
So you’re saying it’s illegal? Yup. You are!
Also note, there’s the argument that the threat itself was disorderly etc, and the reason these laws stand is because; generally, people have a right to not be living under the fear such threats cause.
Trust me, if these kinds of statements were protected speech, we’d live in a much, much worse place.
But they’re not.
She intended to communicate a threat of violence. It doesn’t matter if she could carry it out, on reasonable person can know that- in the context of that phone call. Or even in the context of the conversation with the cops later.
Its not illegal, though. I can go out into public right now and say it with no repercussions. If it was illegal, how would anyone possibly inform other people of actual fires and bombs?
The thing that is illegal is causing a panic in a large group of people. Has nothing to do with the words used.
I just feel that the nuance is important. Any combination of words could get you in trouble if it happens to cause a riot.
It's a threat. They just have no reason to belive she, in particular, should be believed. It's not a true threat, by legal standards. I'm not a lawyer, but I'm very confident of this. This is an obvious miscarriage of justice. Throwing a threat out in anger or frustration does not make a true threat.
Also she never said she would be the one to do it just that they would be next.
and then when the cops came, she admitted to it, and continued on saying stuff like "they're evil" and "They deserve karma"
like. Okay. The insurance peeps are fucking evil. she's not wrong.
but maybe don't tell the cops that? maybe shut the fuck up and get a lawyer.
Every day is shut the fuck up Friday
Hit lawyer, gym up
I have to agree with you, mostly.
The system gets to make the rules and even if she didn’t say, "you people are next" I think they’d still be doing this. Corpos control our justice system and they will not tolerate us glorifying Luigi Mangione (please jurors look up "nullification”)
That was my thought as well. If she left it at DDD, that's just showing opposition. "You people are next" is a pretty clear threat.
Fuck the insurance companies, but be smart about how.
Sounded more like a prediction to me