ALEXANDRIA, Va.-Friday, Jesse Curtis Morton, a Muslim convert from Brooklyn was sentenced to 12 years in prison for threating the creators of Comedy Central's hit show "South Park" on his online website called Muslim Revolution.
Morton's defense lawyer James Hundley was pushing for a five prison term arguing that the threats and the website, as a whole, were largely in line with his First Amendments Rights. Ironically Morton had threatened the TV show makers for their First Amendment Rights.
Prosecutors Gordon Kromber argued that Morton's philosophy had been, ""Make a TV show we don't like - we'll slit your throat. Draw a cartoon we don't like - we'll slit your throat," as reported by BBC News.
Morton offered an apology to the court stating he "contributed to a clash of civilizations by espousing a violent ideology...I justified atrocities by Muslims simply because they were carried out by the weak against the powerful," according to AP.
U.S. District Judge Liam O'Grady said to the accused, "You were rubbing elbows with some of the most dangerous revolutionaries of the past few years, there has to be religious tolerance in the world. There has to be freedom of speech," according to Fox News.
One of his co-accusers was sentenced to 25-years in prison in February. On their website, which has been removed since has contained material regarding information on bomb building. The 33-year-old has also admitted using the website for al-Qaeda propaganda.
Morton was arrested last year in Morocco.
According to a recent law it is a federal crime to threaten someone for their life or serious injuries on the internet.
