People v. Smolkin
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Deputy D.A. Horvath prosecuted Smolkin for parole violations, including Smolkin's threat to blow up a parole office building. Smolkin was sentenced to 180 days in jail. , Horvath received a handwritten letter from Smolkin, stating that Smolkin was a member of Russian military intelligence and that Horvath had been “sentenced to death in Moscow for the crime of kidnapping a soldier of the armed forces of Russia... I am scheduled to be released... I warn you, if charges are not dropped ... my parole cancelled, I will ... effectively sentence, the entire Solano County DA’s office with kidnapping punishable by death by Russian military firing squad. Let me be crystal clear—I have no training in riflery or authorization to carry out an execution... your entire office will be arrested by Russian military police ... and sentenced to death by firing squad… My only part in the execution, ... will be to livestream it.” Small text in a margin stated, “It is clear to any rational person that I pose no threat to anybody.” Smolkin repeated, “Once again, I am not authorized to, nor will I, take any actions that violate California laws.”
The court of appeal reversed Smolkin's conviction for resisting an executive officer, Penal Code 69. On these specific facts, a reasonable listener would not have found the delusional letter “a serious expression of an intent to commit an act of unlawful violence.”
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