Man posts song lyrics on Facebook, arrested for terrorist threats

Posting the lyrics of a song on Facebook could send you behind bars. That's what happened to a Kentucky man who has been jailed and accused of terrorist threats for posting the lyrics of a metal song to Facebook.

James Evans, a 31-year-old from Central City, Kentucky, posted the verses of the Exodus song "Class Dismissed (A Hate Primer)" on August 24 on his wall, including a verse that read "student bodies lying dead in the halls, a blood splattered treatise of hate / Class dismissed is my hypothesis, gun fire ends the debate."

After someone reported his post to the police, agents arrested him and brought him to jail on August 26. He was released a week later, on September 3, according to records at the Muhlenberg County Detention Center.

Police arrested him for threatening "to kill students and or staff at school," according to the arrest warrant seen by local TV station 14News. Evans counters saying he only posted the lyrics of a song he liked on his Facebook wall.

"It's surreal," Evans told Billboard. "I didn't think anything would come of it."

But something did come of it. Evans is now facing charges for "terrorist threatening," a crime that in Kentucky could potentially land him between 5 and 10 years in prison, according to Kentucky Law. Evans is due in court for a hearing on October 1.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Kentucky announced on Wednesday that it's taking his defense.

"At this point, we're looking to have him completely exonerated," Bill Sharp, an attorney with the ACLU, said.

The ACLU is presenting this as a First Amendment issue.

"The First Amendment exists to protect people from government censorship of unpopular, but otherwise lawful, speech. And there is no greater threat to our ability to exercise that right than to be thrown in jail for doing so," said ACLU's Executive Director Michael Aldridge in a statement.

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