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  • As a criminal defense lawyer, people ask me all the time--

  • when I was making a threat against somebody

  • become a crime?

  • And the answer is that under Penal Code Section 422, which

  • defines a crime of criminal threats,

  • it's a crime when you threatened to kill or injure

  • somebody or somebody close to them,

  • when your intention is to put them in fear,

  • and you actually do put them in, what the law calls,

  • sustained fear.

  • So sustained fear means that the person

  • was in fear not just for a brief moment,

  • but for some period of time.

  • Now, examples of this are calling your ex-girlfriend

  • and threatening to shoot her and her new boyfriend,

  • or a disgruntled customer who calls a company

  • and threatens to blow up their building.

  • If your intention is to put them in fear

  • and you actually do put them in sustained fear,

  • you can be charged with criminal threats.

  • Now, criminal threats is a very serious crime.

  • It's a wobbler, which means it can be filed

  • as a misdemeanor or a felony.

  • As a felony, it can carry up to three years in custody.

  • But moreover, as a felony, it counts

  • as a strike under California's Three Strikes law.

  • So if you're convicted, it's something that could ultimately

  • contribute towards putting you in prison

  • for the rest of your life.

As a criminal defense lawyer, people ask me all the time--

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