Florida Man’s Conviction for Threatening US Congressmember Holds

A Florida man convicted of threatening to put a bomb in US Rep. Kathy Castro’s (D-Fla.) office lost his appeal after the Eleventh Circuit said he wasn’t convicted for “political hyperbole” protected by the First Amendment.

There was “more than sufficient evidence” for the jury to conclude the threat wasn’t “hyperbole or made in jest” but was instead “a clear and serious threat of violence,” the court said.

Rigoberto Albizar-Martinez left the message for Castro specifically, and said he was going to “put a bomb in your office,” repeating “it’s a threat” twice.

“And he otherwise sounded angry, used abusive ...