The school felt it had to take the comment seriously for good reason and called the police. However, this sounds like the type of juvenile statement that adults often make to show their anger with politicians. Haley was elected with the support of Sarah Palin and the Tea Party and has many opponents in the state who view her as an extremist. Yet, the school is hardly in a position to ignore such a threat in the hope that it is meant in jest without some inquiry. It is not clear if an informal inquiry was made in this case before calling the police.
Here is the applicable statutory provision:
SECTION 16-3-1040. Threatening life, person or family of public official or public employee; punishment.
(A) It is unlawful for a person knowingly and wilfully to deliver or convey to a public official or to a teacher or principal of an elementary or secondary school any letter or paper, writing, print, missive, document, or electronic communication or verbal or electronic communication which contains a threat to take the life of or to inflict bodily harm upon the public official, teacher, or principal, or members of his immediate family if the threat is directly related to the public official’s, teacher’s, or principal’s professional responsibilities.
(B) It is unlawful for a person knowingly and wilfully to deliver or convey to a public employee a letter or paper, writing, print, missive, document, or electronic communication or verbal or electronic communication which contains a threat to take the life of or to inflict bodily harm upon the public employee or members of his immediate family if the threat is directly related to the public employee’s official responsibilities.
(C) A person who violates the provisions of subsection (A), upon conviction, must be fined not more than five thousand dollars or imprisoned not more than five years, or both.
(D) A person who violates the provisions of subsection (B), upon conviction, must be fined not more than five hundred dollars or imprisoned not more than thirty days, or both.
What is interesting is the lack of a scienter element — differentiating between a joke and a threat. I addressed this line in an earlier column on people being arrested for jokes at airports.
The incident raises a question of what the proper response to such a threat should be. If the principal believed this to be a joke after confronting Phillips, would it have been enough to demand that she not be at the school for the event?
Source: WBTV