Freedom of expression vs. actual school threat

OOLTEWAH, Tennessee(WDEF) – A Photoshopped image depicting a student aiming a weapon inside a school is shedding light on freedom of expression versus an actual school threat.

There’s an old saying that a picture is worth a thousand words, but according to the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office, the word “threat” comes to mind when describing a fake picture of a student holding a rifle inside a school.

There were no statements written with the picture that directly threatened anyone at East Hamilton School, but law enforcement officials told  News 12 the picture is the threat. An East Hamilton school student is now facing the possibility of being charged with a crime.

“When you see what appears to be someone standing on the second floor with a high-powered rifle aimed down the hallway of the school that in itself sends a pretty good message. I don’ know what kind of caption you could put under that to distract from that message,” said Hamilton County Chief Deputy Allen Branum.

According to Branum, even if the student openly stated his or intentions were not to cause harm, this would still be considered a threat.

“If someone had posted that in a class and said here is what I can do with my software; look what I got, this is not real. I Photoshopped this and make a disclaimer, it still would have been threatening because most people would not have got past the picture,” Branum said.

The picture was never brought on school campus but rather posted on the internet.

“It’s a very delicate line that we need to be careful about; what a person is allowed  to say, do,  or do in art work. These are very important freedoms we enjoy that I think our law enforcement needs to be very sensitive about,” said Attorney Gary Masey Jr.

News 12 asked if the picture itself could legally be defined as a threat.

“I think if this photograph were posted on the campus of a school or if it came with an easy way to identify what school it’s talking about ,then it certainly would more easily lead itself to a threat against that school or people at that school,” Massey said.

News 12 then asked if this would be a slam dunk case in court should the student be arrested and charged.

“A case like this might be easy to defend based on the lack of proof of what the child was trying to do when they created the photograph. But it’s also difficult to defend because of the paranoia out there of violence in schools and violence against children and things of that nature,” Massey said.

If the case does go to court, prosecutors would be forced to prove the student intended to threaten the school.