Twitter Records Sought in Terroristic Threat Probe - Houston Chronicle
For all their effort, the Texas GOP does not quite a monopoly on boorish, immoral, and vicious behavior.
AUSTIN - State police have demanded Twitter records from two users who officials allege made “terroristic threats” against Republican lawmakers who pushed for controversial new abortion restrictions.
One targeted user, Denise Romano, an Austin woman with a private Twitter account, explains on her page that posts are “satirical.” The second user’s account is anonymous and was unused for more than a year before a string of tweets specified in the Texas Department of Public Safety probe.
In what appears to be an unprecedented move in Texas, law enforcement officials subpoenaed the Twitter users’ information in a criminal investigation. No one has been charged yet.
“We do see tweets becoming the subject of civil action like defamation, but I haven’t heard of a tweet being used for the basis of a criminal case,” said Paul Watler, a Dallas-based First Amendment lawyer and a former president of the Texas Freedom of Information Foundation.
“There’s lots of open questions here,” Watler said of the probe. “Our law does recognize the right of anonymous speech, but that does not (allow) a person to anonymously violate criminal laws, so there’s some line-drawing that needs to be done.”
Agent Jason McMurray submitted the order on July 25 requesting names, emails and addresses, activation date, payment information and IP addresses for @prisonforbush and @deniseromano on July 17 and 19.
Gov. Rick Perry on July 18 signed the omnibus abortion bill that limits the procedure after 20 weeks and raises standards for providers.
McMurray did not return requests for comment Wednesday. An agency official said the group “does not discuss law enforcement-sensitive information.”
The account @prisonforbush is anonymous. The user posted about 40 tweets on July 18 after more than a year of inactivity, including death, torture and crucifixion threats. Some mentioned Perry, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and former President George W. Bush.
Romano’s account, @deniseromano, is private and lets only confirmed followers to view posts.
According to a website listed on her Twitter profile, Romano has lived in Austin since 2012 and has a “respiratory condition” that “interferes with my ability to breathe and speak.”
She uses ‘satire’
“I tweet and post on Facebook because it’s the only way I can be politically active given my physical limitations,” she writes, adding that she often uses “satire” when tweeting.
On July 18, she tweeted: “Should we execute Perry by lethal injection or stoning for all he’s killed #NeedYourPermission.”
Romano would not comment about the probe. But in a post, she questioned why the state agency would target her account. She said Wednesday that she has contacted an attorney.
Heated debate about Texas’ new abortion laws spread fast and at times invoked furious outbursts from social media and from protesters at the Capitol during the weekslong proceedings. Though mostly peaceful demonstrations were reported, public safety officers made several arrests from unruly spectators in the Senate gallery and the Capitol rotunda.
Protesters shouted so loudly during the first scheduled vote on the bill that senators weren’t able to proceed. They were quickly admonished by supporters of the bill.
Dewhurst described the protesters as an “unruly mob.” State Rep. Bill Zedler, R-Arlington, went a step further.
“We had terrorist [sic] in the Texas State Senate opposing SB 5” he tweeted.
Zedler’s office declined to comment on the alleged threats and subpoenas.
Kristen Vander-Plas, a law student at Texas Tech and a former legislative director for College Republicans, said the users’ tweets “made me nervous,” and she reported them to Texas Rangers and Perry’s office.
More: Twitter Records Sought in Terroristic Threat Probe - Houston Chronicle
Okay, stop right there. Kristen Vander-Plas is a friend of mine. She and I disagree on almost everything about politics, but she is a brilliant young woman and someone for whom I have the highest respect. Right now, she is being subjected to a storm of abuse for reporting these “satirical” calls for torture, mutilation, crucifixion, etc. I have no doubt at all that her concern about this is sincere. We need a subpoena to find out who some of these “satirists” are, but the Chronicle feels no compunction about spreading Kristen’s name all over the internet for reporting them. If a “satirical” call for violence and torture is indistinguishable from a serious, criminal one, why does it still qualify as satire? The Texas GOP legislators have generally behaved like a bunch of pigs, but that does not excuse the inflammatory speech Kristen felt obligated to report, and does not invalidate law enforcement’s efforts to at least find out whether there is a real threat. Publishing Kristen’s name is way out of line.