Threat to Lick Groceries With Covid-19 Isn’t Protected Speech

Threatening on Facebook to pay a Covid-19 positive person to lick groceries at a store isn’t constitutionally protected speech, the Fifth Circuit affirmed.

The biological weapons statute prohibits such statements and the posts qualify as an unprotected “true threat,” Judge Jerry E. Smith wrote Wednesday for the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. But the presentence investigation report miscalculated the defendant’s sentencing guidelines, the appeals court said, returning the case for resentencing.

Christopher Perez falsely said in two April 2020 Facebook posts that he paid a friend’s Covid-19 positive cousin to lick everything in two San Antonio grocery ...