James Donald Vance sentenced for social media threats to Trump, Vance

A Michigan man named JD Vance was sentenced this week to 2 years in jail for making threats towards President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance and others.

Sixty-seven-year-old James Donald Vance Jr. of Grand Rapids, who seems to be unrelated to Vice President J.D. Vance however shares his initials and final title, pleaded responsible to threatening to kill or injure the president and vice chairman and to threatening interstate communications, each felonies. U.S. District Choose Paul Maloney of Kalamazoo ordered Vance Jr. sentenced Nov. 17 to 2 years in jail, on-line court docket information present.

Vance Jr. posted messages threatening Trump and Vance on the Bluesky social media community in March and April, in accordance with a sentencing memorandum filed by prosecutors.

“If Trump (sic), Vance or Musk ever come to my city once more they’ll depart in a physique bag,” Vance Jr. posted. on April 1 on Bluesky beneath the account @diaperJDV, in accordance with the memorandum. “I will both get shot by a Secret Service sniper or I will spend the remainder of my life in jail. I solely have ten years to reside anyway, so I do not care both method.”

In response to court docket paperwork, a grand jury discovered Vance Jr. indicted in June. Vance Jr. pleaded responsible to the 2 costs in July. Every cost carried a most penalty of as much as 5 years in jail and a $250,000 advantageous, if convicted.

Prosecutors had initially proposed a sentence of between 30 and 37 months. Maloney gave Vance Jr. a jail sentence of 24 months, adopted by three years of supervised launch.

“The arrival of the Web offers us all the chance to interact within the wholesome alternate of concepts which might be so necessary to a democracy,” U.S. Legal professional for the Western District of Michigan Timothy VerHey mentioned in an announcement. “However some would like to make use of this software to threaten and intimidate habits that causes concern and harms our democratic beliefs.”

“When Vance mentioned he deliberate to kill our president and vice chairman just because he disagreed with them, he crossed a line that all of us perceive and ought to be punished.”

A court-appointed legal professional for Vance Jr. argued for a lighter sentence, saying the 67-year-old was mentally abused as a toddler and presently struggles with different well being issues. Vance Jr. had no prior felony historical past, in accordance with a sentencing memorandum written by court-appointed attorneys Sean Tilton and Helen Niewenhuis.

Of their sentencing memo, prosecutors additionally famous that Vance Jr. posted a photograph of a gun on BlueSky in February, arguing that he was able to responding to any risk and deserved a harsher sentence. Protection attorneys mentioned of their sentencing memo that as a result of the threats occurred on-line, no firearm was used within the fee of a criminal offense and no stricter sentencing pointers utilized.

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Contact Arpan Lobo: alobo@freepress.com