Letters That Threatened Death

Several men were accused of agreeing to use the mails to obtain money from a victim by sending letters threatening murder and bodily harm unless money was paid. Prosecutors used the federal mail fraud law, which punished using the mails to carry out any scheme or artifice to defraud, and charged a conspiracy to break it. The government argued that, in a broad sense, threats are a kind of fraud, because the law covers obtaining another person's money or property by dishonest means. The men were convicted and the conviction was affirmed on a first appeal. The defence argued that sending threatening letters for money is coercion, not deception, and so falls outside a law aimed at schemes to defraud.