In United States v. Bachmeier, --- F.4th ---, No. 20-30019 (9th Cir. 2021), the Court affirmed a conviction under 18 U.S.C. § 876(c) for sending a communication that threatened a state judge assigned to the defendant’s civil proceeding.
Section 876(c) prohibits an individual from (1) knowingly sending a communication through the mail that (2) is addressed to any other person and (3) contains any threat to kidnap any person or any threat to injure the person of the addressee or of another.
Although Bachmeier sent his threat addressed to the Kenai Courthouse, not an individual, the Court held that the evidence was legally sufficient to support the jury's finding that the judge, a natural person, was the addressee because the letter specifically mentioned and threatened her.
The Court further concluded the jury instructions were erroneous because they allowed the jury to convict based on Bachmeier's knowledge of the threat rather than his subjective intent to threaten.
In reaching this conclusion, the Court explained that Ninth Circuit Model Criminal Jury Instruction 8.47A is incorrect. "[C]ase law makes clear that a subjective intent to threaten is the required mental state, not, as Instruction 8.47A allows, mere 'knowledge that the [communication] would be viewed as a threat.'' Nevertheless, the error was harmless.
