PRIVATE MESSAGES SENT BY THE JUVENILE DID NOT MEET THE CRITERIA FOR A “TERRORISTIC THREAT” (FOURTH DEPT).

The Fourth Department, reversing Family Court, determined the messages sent by the juvenile did not meet the criteria for a terroristic threat:

… [A] person is guilty of making a terroristic threat when “with intent to intimidate or coerce a civilian population . . . [they] threaten[ ] to commit or cause to be committed a specified offense and thereby cause[ ] a reasonable expectation or fear of the imminent commission of such offense” (Penal Law § 490.20 [1]). Here, petitioner presented testimony that respondent sent private messages to another student in a different school district that respondent was planning to commit a mass shooting to end bullying in his school. There was no evidence that those threats were made to anyone other than the student or that respondent requested that the student relay the threats to others. “A private conversation between immature teenage friends, without more, does not establish the element of intent to intimidate a civilian population” … . Matter of Jose M.F. (Seneca County Presentment Agency), 2025 NY Slip Op 01734, Fourth Dept 3-21-25

Practice Point: Threatening to commit a mass shooting to end school bullying in a private message to another student does not satisfy the criteria for a “terroristic threat.”