Judge refuses to toss charge over threat to Muslim candidate


Save Story
Leer en español

Estimated read time: Less than a minute

This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.

ASHEVILLE, N.C. (AP) — A federal judge has refused to throw out a case in which a North Carolina man is charged with anonymously threatening to lynch a Muslim-American man who is campaigning for a state Senate seat in Virginia.

U.S. District Judge Max Cogburn Jr. on Monday refused to dismiss Joseph Cecil Vandevere's indictment on First Amendment free speech grounds.

Vandevere is charged with interstate communication of a threat to injure a person in connection with a tweet directed at Virginia state Senate candidate Qasim Rashid. The tweet included a picture of a lynching and read, "VIEW YOUR DESTINY."

Rashid posted a screenshot of the threatening tweet in March 2018 and reported it to the FBI.

Vandevere's attorney, Andrew Banzhoff, didn't immediately respond to a phone message and email seeking comment.

Copyright © The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Most recent Religion stories

Related topics

Religion
The Associated Press

    STAY IN THE KNOW

    Get informative articles and interesting stories delivered to your inbox weekly. Subscribe to the KSL.com Trending 5.
    By subscribing, you acknowledge and agree to KSL.com's Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

    KSL Weather Forecast