The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to hear the appeal of a Connecticut man who said his free speech rights were violated when he was arrested and convicted of threatening the judge in his divorce case.
The court released its decision Tuesday without comment.
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Edward Taupier, of Cromwell, recently finished an 18-month prison sentence for threatening Judge Elizabeth Bozzuto, now the state’s deputy chief court administrator.
Prosecutors say Taupier sent an email to six acquaintances in 2014 that described Bozzuto’s home and how certain rifles could be fired at it from a nearby cemetery. Taupier argued the email was a “hyperbolic expression of vitriol” protected by free speech rights.
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Taupier’s prison sentence also included four months for Facebook posts urging people to kill judges and employees at the Middletown courthouse.
