5 December 2015

Lenio case going to trial after all

After attempts to settle the matter through a plea bargain failed, the case of Montana v. David Lenio, is headed for trial in mid-Janary. Lenio is charged with malicious intimidation for allegedly making threats through the internet. A second charge against him, criminal defamation, was dismissed on constitutional grounds in September.

What led to this development? Three things, I think:

1. The difficulty of finding a misdemeanor charge commensurate with the evidence and the prosecutor’s need not to look soft on crime. A deferred prosecution probably was politically impossible.


2. A political backlash from the Montana human rights community, including the Flathead group Love Lives here, and national groups in which Jon Hutson is involved. These people want Lenio convicted of a felony so that his firearms can be confiscated. They believe that although they have not listened to Lenio’s defense, which has not been presented publicly, they know enough to know he’s guilty. This pressure may have had some effect on the prosecutor.


3. Terrorist attacks in Paris and San Bernardino. People are frightened, some to the point of hysteria. Frightened people are less tolerant of threats or utterances that can be construed as threats. In Lenio’s case, this climate of fear will make it easier for the prosecution to persuade the jurors to convict. That may have emboldened the Flathead County Attorney to take the case to trial.

A plea bargain remains possible, of course, and might even occur during the trial.

Even in the current climate of fear, the case is not a slam dunk for the state. Were it, Lenio would have already pleaded guilty to a felony. Now he gets to present a defense, to cross examine witnesses, to challenge evidence, to expose the weaknesses in the prosecution’s case. In other words, he gets to have a fair trial in a court of law instead of being convicted in a kangaroo court of public opinion.