Massachusetts Criminal Defense Lawyer Blog

Massachusetts threats charges were brought against Alex Finnigan, a former student at Bridgewater State University after his alleged to have threatened to shoot up the campus radio station because they would not play a requested song, according to CBS News. The defendant was charged with a felony charge of threat to commit a crime with serious public harm and the misdemeanor charge of threats to commit a crime.

To prove a charge of threats to commit, the misdemeanor charge, under Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 275 Section 2, the Commonwealth must prove the following elements:

1. that the defendant expressed an intent to injure;


2. that the defendant intended teh threat to be conveyed


3. that the injury that was threatened, if carried out would constitute a crime; and


4. the defendant made the threat under circumstances which would reasonably have caused the victim to fear that the defendant had the intent and ability to carry out the threat.

To read more about the elements of a threat to commit a crime you can click on the Massachusetts Model Criminal Jury Instructions.

The contested issue in this case would be whether the defendant had the intent to carry out the threat; it appears that multiple calls were made but that the defendant wrote a letter of apology saying the whole thing was a joke. I would not expect the prosecutor to dismiss this charge, but to prosecutor and look for a conviction, given the seriousness of these incidences that occurred in the past. Further, as a criminal defense lawyer in Brockton, the defendant's letter of apology may making contesting the charge more difficult as it would possibly remove any issue of who made the threat from being challenged.