District of Columbia Court of Appeals· 6/7/2012

In re S.W.

Citations

45 A.3d 151
2012 WL 2044356
2012 D.C. App. LEXIS 285

How courts have described this case

Verbatim parenthetical descriptions written by other courts when citing this decision. Ranked by citation-network relevance.

explaining that, in analyzing alleged verbal criminal threats, “our cases have stressed that the context in which words are spoken is critical”
\A threat is more than language in a vacuum. It is not always reasonable——and sometimes it is patently irrational——to take every pronouncement at face value.\
threats require “a serious expression of an intent to cause a present or future 70 harm”
“Certainly, as the fresh victim of apparent arson, it can be expected that [the witness‟s] sensitivities would be heightened. But every statement that causes a hearer fear or painful memories is not a threat[.]”
“[S]peech is only a ‘true threat’ and therefore unprotected under the (continued…) 16 III. For the foregoing reasons, we affirm appellant’s conviction for simple assault and reverse her conviction for attempted threats. So ordered. (…continued
modified lyrics from a Lil Wayne song—“We will set this whole block on fire” and “we will set your house on fire”—did not express threats when sung to a neighbor with whom the speaker had a friendly relationship

Source: CourtListener parenthetical corpus (CC0).

Judges: Easterly, King, Oberly

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21 cases in this archive cite this case; the 20 most cited are listed.

Cites

28 cases in this archive are cited by this case; the 20 most cited are listed.

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