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43. Can the man constitutionally be convicted under this law?
A man intensely disliked his neighbors. One night, intending to frighten them, he spray-painted their house with racial epithets and threats to kill them. The man was arrested and prosecuted under a state law providing that «any person who threatens violence against another person with the intent to cause that person to fear for his or her life or safety may be imprisoned for up to five years.» In defense, the man claimed that he did not intend to kill his neighbors, but only to scare them so that they would move away.
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A is incorrect. As explained above, when an individual makes a threat intended to intimidate the recipient, such speech is not protected. It is irrelevant whether the man commenced any overt action against the neighbors because the threat alone may be outlawed as unprotected speech.
B is incorrect. This answer reaches the correct answer with the wrong reasoning. Under the First Amendment, the state may not punish an individual for the content of his speech simply because he engages in unlawful conduct. In this case, the man may be convicted because a threat communicated with the intent to intimidate the recipient, like the communication here, is not constitutionally-protected speech.
D is incorrect. The Supreme Court has not held racially-motivated threats to violate the Thirteenth Amendment's prohibition of involuntary servitude. The reason the man may be convicted is because a threat communicated with the intent to intimidate the recipient, like the communication here, is not constitutionally-protected speech.