Justin Carter, the 19-year-old who was jailed for a Facebook post he said was a joke, is finally out of jail today after an anonymous donor posted his bail.
As we reported last week, on Feb. 13, Carter posted on Facebook that he wanted “to shoot up a kindergarten, watch the blood rain down and eat the beating heart out of one of them.” He said that was just a joke, made during a chat with friends over a videogame, but prosecutors didn’t agree. He was charged with a third degree felony for “terroristic threats.”
Carter had been in jail for 100 days when his plight became the subject of a Change.org petition posted by his mother.
On Friday, Carter and his family spoke with CNN, confirming that an anonymous donor posted the $500,000 bond and now he is free - at least until his next court date. The prosecutors are still going ahead with the charges.
"I just think it got taken out of context, and it's been blown out of proportion," Carter told CNN’s New Day. Carer added that he learned a valuable lesson - think before you post anything on the web.
“People should be very, very careful of what they say. It's being recorded all the time, if you say it on any website, anywhere,” he said. “And you can get in trouble for something that's not something you should get in trouble for. I just want people to be warned.”
Carter is due in court on Aug. 12. Don Flanary, who is the family's attorney, told CNN that he will try to get the charges dismiss on the basis that the prosecutors have violated Carter’s right to Free Speech.
image: Change.org
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