Man who threatened President Obama must take anger management classes
Last November, a Florida man was questioned by the Secret Service – and subsequently arrested – after threatening to kill President Obama in a Facebook post. Now, the Melbourne resident has been sentenced to over a year in prison and three years of probation, including anger management classes.
Click Orlando, a local news outlet, reports that 29-year-old Christopher Castillo will have to serve 15 months in prison for making threatening statements about the president. In his Facebook comment last year, Castillo remarked on the election that “if [Obama] gets re-elected I’m going to hunt him down and kill him (and) watch the life disappear from his eyes.” The judge was reportedly disturbed enough by both Castillo’s statement and hostility, prompting the sentence, which was the shortest punishment available.
According to The Huffington Post in its initial account of the story, Castillo had told Secret Service agents that, given the chance, he would slap and beat the president, screaming that he was a terrorist. Apparently, shortly before making his comments, Castillo had lost his job and was in a “fragile mental state.”
Both Castillo’s father and public defender argued that he didn’t pose any legitimate threat, and simply made a dumb remark.
“He’s not the next Lee Harvey Oswald. He’s not the next John Wilkes Booth,” Castillo’s public defender told the court. “He’s just a poor, young, uneducated, ignorant man.”
But prosecutors weren’t convinced, and emphasized that behind the comments was a continuing anger problem that had cost him a number of jobs, including a dismissal from the Air Force. The message behind Castillo’s conviction was that “words have consequences, and words have meaning.”
The Internet can be a healthy outlet for anger, but not in making threatening or disparaging remarks. Instead, focus your feelings in a more constructive manner, with the online anger management classes of Conflict Coaching & Consulting.
Dr. Carlos Todd PhD LCMHC specializes in anger management, family conflict resolution, marital and premarital conflict resolution. His extensive knowledge in the field of anger management may enable you to use his tested methods to deal with your anger issues.
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