Justin Carter, 19, Faces 8 Years of Prison for Facebook Message
A 19-year-old boy could face years in prison after making a sarcastic remark on Facebook about shooting up his school.
Officials arrested Justin Carter, who was 18 at the time of the incident, in February after a woman believed to be from Canada, alerted authorities about a post the teen had made on Facebook. In the post, the teen referenced shooting up a school. But the entire thing is just a misunderstanding says Carter's father, Jack, who is now worried that his son may take his own life.
"He's very depressed. He's very scared and he's very concerned that he's not going to get out," Jack Carter told CNN on Tuesday. "He's pretty much lost all hope."
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Cater has already been in prison for nearly half a year, but he could have to face several more years locked up. The incident began when Carter and a friend were chatting about a video game. The friend accused Carter of being crazy.
"Someone had said something to the effect of 'Oh you're insane. You're crazy. You're messed up in the head,'" Jack Carter told CNN affiliate KVUE in Austin. "To which he replied 'Oh yeah, I'm real messed up in the head. I'm going to go shoot up a school full of kids and eat their still-beating hearts.'"
Justin Carter followed the statement with "LOL" and "J/K" so that he wasn't taken seriously. But less than two months after the shootings in Newton, CT. he was taken seriously. A judge issued a warrant for his arrest on February 13th. He was posted on $500,000 bail. But it's a fee his family cannot afford.
"It's outrageous," Donald H. Flanary III, who is working the Carters' case for free, told CNN Tuesday. "I've represented murderers and their bond was $150,000."
Justin Carter faces charges for making a terroristic threat. A full term prison sentence could be up to eight years.
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