The Iowa Supreme Court has granted a brain-injured eastern Iowa man a new trial on his conviction for making threats over the internet.
Jeffrey Soboroff of Calamus was arrested after he said, in a posting on the internet, that he had gotten 500 pounds of Thorazine to dump into the city’s water tower. He created a slideshow on his website showing photos of some city residents, with a caption saying those folks “could use some medication.”
In 2008 a jury found him guilty of making threats, but he appealed.
The Iowa Supreme Court has ruled that while there was evidence the man’s threats were real, there was also evidence from which a jury could have concluded his statements were just “idle talk.”