The Alaska Court of Appeals has thrown out the sentence of a man who threatened to kill the members of a Kasilof community group considering problems with a personal-use fishery on the Kenai Peninsula.
On Wednesday, the Alaska Court of Appeals upheld the conviction of Richard Tolotta on six counts of coercion, as his threat forced the community group to end its meeting and call Alaska State Troopers. The threat so concerned one member of the group that she abstained from attending future meetings.
The court found, however, that after Tolotta’s conviction, the Alaska Superior Court made a mistake when it sentenced him to 25 ½ months in jail (24 suspended). That’s because the court used a sentencing guideline that only applies to sexual assault convictions.
Wednesday’s decision comes on the heels of a decision last week by the Court of Appeals to uphold a charge of harassment against a 23-year-old man who wrote “your going to be assassinated” on an Anchorage Assemblyman’s Facebook page.
In that decision, the appeals court said the post was not protected under the First Amendment.
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