Daniel James Murray Charged With Making Threats Against Obama In Utah

SALT LAKE CITY — Federal prosecutors have charged a man with making threats against President Barack Obama after he allegedly told a bank employee in Utah he was on a mission to kill the president.

The Salt Lake Tribune reported on its Web site Thursday that Daniel James Murray allegedly made the remark to a teller at a bank in St. George on May 27 as he withdrew $13,000 from an account.

Murray's whereabouts are unknown. A court affidavit says Murray is from New York and has recently been in California, Utah, Georgia, Oklahoma and possibly Texas.

The U.S. Secret Service says Murray has at least eight registered firearms, the Tribune reported.

Malcolm Wiley, a spokesman for the Secret Service in Washington, told The Associated Press he had no comment Thursday.

Comments

[murphysgirl]

10:26 AM on 06/06/2009

He got arrested in Nevada!!

[confidance government]

05:48 PM on 06/05/2009

I am being quite surprised by the number of people saying that they are willing to curtail civil liberties regarding freedom of speech. Do you folks realize what you are asking for? Do you not think that these restrictions you are calling for will never be turned against you?

[onepotatotwopotato]

02:15 PM on 06/06/2009

I recall how in school many years ago a teacher was explaining how a threat could constitute a crime. He told our class that if a man were in San Francisco and threatened to kill the POTUS that would not be a crime because (assuming the POTUS were in Washington, D.C.) he would lack "proximity". For a threat to be criminal there had to be three factors involved. Intent, means and proximity. If the POTUS were to visit San Francisco and the man were to utter the threat and own a gun then it would be a criminal act, as the three tests of intent, means and proximity would have been met. Later, Congress passed a law making it a Federal offense merely to threaten to kill or harm the POTUS. I thought it was interesting that in America one could (but obviously shouldn't) threaten to kill the POTUS and not be arrested unless you posed an actual threat to him. I think in France it is illegal to merely insult the President.

[expired]

04:46 PM on 06/05/2009

Nick Bunzl: Time to Combat The New Smear Campaign Against President Obama

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/nick-bunzl/time-to-combat-the-new-sm_b_211434.html

[qxav949]

03:39 PM on 06/05/2009

Oh yeah, and how the heck does a madman have $85 thousand dollars in cash but sane, hardworking folks are $85,000 in debt? Did he get a bailout?

[Bongborg]

07:15 PM on 06/05/2009

It's Utah. He prolly got a loan from the LDS Church.

[Norge]

05:00 AM on 06/14/2009

Perhaps he just saved his money or inherited some and was not an consumer addict and did not have the need to buy, buy, buy to keep up with the others on the block.

Perhaps he did not have a need to buy respect and saved his money...

[WierdWookie]

02:58 PM on 06/05/2009

mrfreeze, you are right. I live in Utah for 23 years. Anti-government movements are many and all are rabid.

[Dalpine]

04:31 PM on 06/05/2009

Something about this stinks

[OBXartist]

02:35 PM on 06/05/2009

Sheesh! Another wacko with eight registered firearms. How nuts does someone have to be before he's prevented from acquiring guns? Certainly this guy and his mental disorder are on record somewhere!

[Lambasted]

02:03 PM on 06/05/2009

Personally, I think it is a bit much to arrest someone for making what might have been an off-hand remark. I mean he was at the bank not a gun counter purchasing an AK-47.

Yes, yes, I know we are talking about the President and it's the law. But for someone to be hauled off to jail because of a comment he made, without taking any overt action to carry out that threat, and it didn't culminate in any harm (like yelling fire in a theater), is a bit much for me. Especially when there is no proof other than just the say-so of one other person.

The Secret Service should launch an investigation as to the merits of the teller's claim by bringing the guy in for questioning. But certainly not go as far to charge him until they have more evidence against him.

[SoccerNana]

10:40 AM on 06/06/2009

You will be hauled off to jail for saying "bomb" in the airport. Every grown up in this Country know the rules; you do not go around making threats in any form against the President of the United States of America, end of story.

[JNagarya]

01:14 PM on 06/06/2009

There is doubtless a technical legal reason for charging him.

And of course one takes a person who makes threats into custody in order to determine the facts. One DOES NOT leave the person on the street -- you know, "just in case" the person MEANS it.

But, yer right: his right of free speech takes precedent over the life of the president.

[producedby]

01:48 PM on 06/05/2009

So this is what happens when the gop crackpots spew all the hate and nonsense they do. All it takes is for one unbalanced person to buy into it. Look at the Tiller murder as a recent example.

I wanna know how this yutz saved 13k, I cant seem to manage that!

[sense11]

01:44 PM on 06/05/2009

Do you think hes a fan of Fox News & Rush Limbaugh

[edwarvir]

01:36 PM on 06/05/2009

This is no laughing matter, they better find this jerk
and quick.

[Aabby]

01:27 PM on 06/05/2009

God be with our President.

[SoccerNana]

10:41 AM on 06/06/2009

Trust me, God is with him.

[JNagarya]

01:15 PM on 06/06/2009

Never trust a person's mental health who believes imaginary friends which cannot be proven to exist are actually real.

[CigarGod]

01:21 PM on 06/05/2009

There is nothing on Utah news stations or websites that I can find.

[larryaz]

02:33 PM on 06/05/2009

The post itself quotes the Salt Lake Tribune website is quoted.

[quadman]

03:43 PM on 06/05/2009

http://www.ksl.com/index.php?nid=148&sid=6713209

[Rattlecan]

01:09 PM on 06/05/2009

We've got an x VP ripping the new president for not torturing abdutees like he did, a misguided radio personality who says he wants the new adminisrtion to fail, zombie banks requiering billions in aid and about two million issues on the burner which need immediate radical change,health care, war and energy .
Why is none of this wierdness suprisising?

[Bongborg]

07:16 PM on 06/05/2009

Because we've just lived through 8 years of the Twilight Zone?

[JamieJay]

01:08 PM on 06/05/2009

We have been channel surfing between CNN and MSNBC and neither outlet has mentioned this. But, we just now flipped to Faux News and they have a picture of the guy and a upcoming news story on the plot.

[qxav949]

03:42 PM on 06/05/2009

Another self-promoting effort like the tea parties or were they earnest in the concern and cause for alarm? I have to ask 'cause my TV doesn't work on Fox and they're known for their disdain for the President.

[Patriot1775]

04:53 PM on 06/05/2009

Imagine. Only being able to get the story from such an "unreliable news source." First O'Reilly saying that he thought Obama's speech yesterday was good and now this. What's the world coming to when the right-leaning FOX News tells it like it is? The horror! :)

[SaddieMcCall]

12:54 PM on 06/05/2009

Wearing glasses and a scraggly beard, Murray was dressed in a black T-shirt with the words, "My way is the highway--- God" emblazoned across the chest with a Christian cross sprouting wings, sources said.

Murray's pursuers are concerned because he has money to burn, but consider his threat to the President "more aspirational than operational."



http://www.nydailynews.com/news/us_world/2009/06/05/2009-06-05_arrest_warrant_issued_for_new_york_man_who_threatened_to_kill_president_obama.html#ixzz0HZjhB1NX&D