Second 'South Park' Attacker Pleads Guilty

A second man who threatened South Park writers over an episode that featured Muhammad in a bear suit has pled guilty to making threatening communications.

Jesse Curtis Morton also pled guilty in the Eastern District of Virginia to conspiring to solicit murder and to "using the Internet to place others in fear."   

Last February, Zachary Chesser pled guilty in the same court to charges of communicating threats against the writers of South Park. He was sentenced to 25 years in prison.

Morton admitted that he helped Chesser to encourage extremists to attack the South Park writers over the episode, "including highlighting their residence and urging online readers to pay them a visit."  The threats included Web postings of a quote from Osama bin Laden on extremist sites: "If there is no check in the freedom of your words, then let your hearts be open to the freedom of our actions."

Morton will be sentenced May 18. He faces a five-year sentence on each of the three charges.

John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.