Jake Baker was a college student at the University of Michigan who also wrote violent pornographic stories on the Usenet. At the end of the series of events narrated below, federal charges were brought against him for transmitting a threat. For this exercise, you will be asked to think as the judges did – and reach your own conclusions based on the evidence available. Read through the specific charges, and then attempt, as a group, to come up with consensus answers to the questions at the end.
What follows is not the full text of the case. However, I have not diluted the legal language of the decision in the excerpted parts. Headers and text in square brackets [] are my insertion.
* The case is United States v. Baker, 890 F.Supp. 1375
From the Case against Baker
This is a criminal prosecution under 18 U.S.C. § 875(c). Defendant Jake Baker (Baker) is charged in a superseding indictment with five counts of transmitting threats to injure or kidnap another, in electronic mail (e-mail) messages transmitted via the Internet.
The e-mail messages that form the basis of the charges in this case were exchanged in December, 1994 between Baker in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and defendant Arthur Gonda (Gonda), who sent and received e-mail through a computer in Ontario, Canada. Gonda’s identity and whereabouts are unknown. The messages excerpted in the Superseding indictment are drawn from a larger e-mail exchange between Gonda and Baker began on November 29, 1994, and ended on January 25, 1995. The specific language of the messages excerpted in the superseding indictment will be discussed in detail below. They all express a sexual interest in violence against women and girls.
Baker first appeared before a United States Magistrate Judge on a criminal complaint alleging violation of 18 U.S.C. § 875(c), on February 9, 1995. The complaint was based on an FBI agent’s affidavit which cited language taken from a story Baker posted to an Internet newsgroup entitled “alt.sex.stories,” and from e-mail messages he sent to Gonda. The story graphically described the torture, rape, and murder of a woman who was given the name of a classmate of Baker’s at the University of Michigan. The “alt.sex.stories” newsgroup to which Baker’s story was posted is an electronic bulletin board, the contents of which are publicly available via the Internet. Much of the attention this case garnered centered on Baker’s use of a real student’s name in the story. The e-mail messages exchanged between Gonda and Baker were private, and not available in any publicly accessible portion of the Internet.
A. [Count I: Transmitting a threat to Injure]
Count I charges Baker and Gonda with transmitting a threat to injure, and quotes from three e-mail messages. In the first message quoted, dated December 1, 1994, Baker responds to a message he had received from Gonda [note: the typos in the emails are in the originals]:
I highly agree with the type of woman you like to hurt. You seem to have the same tastes I have. When you come down, this’ll be fun!
Also, I’ve been thinking. I want to do it to a really young girl first. 13 or 14. There innocence makes them so much more funand they’ll be easier to control. What do you think? I haven’t read your entire mail yet. I’ve saved it to read later, in private. I’ll try to write another short phantasy and send it. If not tomorrow, maybe by Monday. No promises.
On December 2, Gonda responded:
I would love to do a 13 or 14 year old. I think you are right. . .not only their innocence but their young bodies would really be fun to hurt. As far as being easier to control… you may be right, however you can control any bitch with rope and a gag. . once tey are tieed up and struggling we could do anything we want to them… to any girl. The trick is to be very careful in planning. I will keep my eye out for young girls, and relish the fantasy. . . BTW how about your neighbour at home, youm may get a chance to see her…?…?
The same day, Baker responded:
True. But young girls still turn me on more. Likely to be nice and tight. Oh.they’d scream nicely too!
Yeah. I didn’t see her last time I was home. She might have moved. But she’d be a great catch. She’s real pretty. with nice long legs. and a great girly face … I’d love to make her cry …
The bill of particulars identifies the targets of these statements as: 13 and 14-year old girls who reside in Defendant Jake Baker’s neighborhood in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and teenage girls who reside in Defendant Jake Baker’s neighborhood in Boardman, Ohio.
B. [Counts II and III: Threats to kidnap and to injure]
Counts II and III are based on the same statement made by Baker in an e-mail message dated December 9, 1994, and charge Baker with making a threat to kidnap and a threat to injure, respectively. The statement for which Baker is charged in the two counts reads:
I just picked up Bllod Lust and have started to read it. I’ll look for “Final Truth” tomorrow (payday). One of the things I’ve started doing is going back and re-reading earlier messages of yours. Each time I do. they turn me on more and more. I can’t wait to see you in person. I’ve been trying to think of secluded spots. but my knowledge of Ann Arbor is mostly limited to the campus. I don’t want any blood in my room, though I have come upon an excellent method to abduct a bitch. As I said before, my room is right across from the girl’s bathroom. Wiat until late at night. grab her when she goes to unlock the dorr. Knock her unconscious. and put her into one of those portable lockers (forget the word for it). or even a duffle bag. Then hurry her out to the car and take her away … What do you think?
The bill of particulars identifies the target of the statement as:
“Female college students who lived in Defendant Jake Baker’s dormitory at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan.”
C. [Count IV: Threat to Injure]
Count IV charges Baker and Gonda with transmitting a threat to injure. The Count is based on a message from Gonda to Baker, and Baker’s response. Both e-mail messages are dated December 10, 1994. Gonda wrote:
Hi Jake. I have been out tonight and I can tell you that I am thinking more and more about ‘doing’ a girl. I can picture it so well…and I can think of no better use for their flesh. I HAVE to make a bitch suffer!
As far as the Teale-homolka killings, well I can think of no tastier crimes…BTW have you seen any pictures of the girls? You have to see these [deleted]! They must have been so much fun…please let me know any details that I cannot get here. I would love to see what you think about it….
As far as the asian bitch story, there is only one possible ending….
Baker responded:
Are tastes are so similar. it scares me 🙂 When I lay down at night. all I think of before I sleep is how I’d torture a bitch I get my hands on. I have some pretty vivid near dreams too. I wish I could remember them when I get up.
The bill of particulars identifies the target of these statements as:
Women who were the subject of Defendant Jake Baker’s E-mail transmissions and Internet postings, including — but not limited to — Jane Doe, whose true name is known to Defendant Jake Baker and this Honorable Court.
D. [Count V: Threat to Injure]
Count V charges Baker and Gonda with transmitting a threat to injure. It is based on an
exchange between Gonda and Baker on December 11-12, 1994. On December 11, Gonda wrote to Baker:
It’s always a pleasure hearing back from you…I had a great orgasm today thinking of how you and I would torture this very very petite and cute south american girl in one of my classes…BTW speaking of torture, I have got this great full length picture of the Mahaffy girl Paul Bernardo killed, she is wearing this short skirt!
The same day, Baker responded:
Just thinking about it anymore doesn’t do the trick . . . I need TO DO IT.
The next day, Gonda wrote:
My feelings exactly! We have to get together… I will give you more details as soon as I find out my situation…
Baker responded:
Alrighty then. If not next week. or in January. then definatly sometime in the Summer. Pickings are better then too. Although it’s more crowded.
The bill of particulars identifies the target of these statements, as in Count IV, as:
Women who were the subject of Defendant Jake Baker’s E-mail transmissions and Internet postings, including — but not limited to — Jane Doe, whose true name is known to Defendant Jake Baker and this Honorable Court.
Discussion Questions
- Independently of the law, is what these two did ethically wrong? Why or why not?
- The law Baker is charged with violating reads as follows: “Whoever transmits in interstate or foreign commerce any communication containing any threat to kidnap any person or any threat to injure the person of another, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than five years, or both.” Is he guilty of breaking this law?
- What standards are appropriate in determining whether or not Baker’s emails constitute a “threat?”
- What standards are appropriate in balancing the terms of this law with Baker’s free speech rights?
- Would it matter to your decision if they knew who “Gonda” was? Why?
- Does the fact that the emails were “private” make a difference?
- Baker was evaluated by court appointed psychologists, who did not see him as an immanent threat. If they had said that he was, how would this change your decision process (if at all)?