Constitutional Law

N.H. teen charged with penning threatening poem

By By The Associated Press

CONCORD, N.H. ? A 17-year-old New Hampshire high school student is facing charges he helped write a poem that threatened to kill two school officials with a .12-gauge shotgun.

Damien Armendariz, a senior at Merrimack Valley High School in the Penacook neighborhood of Concord, made a video appearance in court yesterday on three misdemeanor charges. He was being held on $3,000 bail.

Police say Armendariz and an unnamed 15-year-old juvenile wrote the poem in October while serving an in-school suspension.

The Concord Monitor reported that in an affidavit filed with the court, the poem included the lines: "I'll murder the principal named Dr. Jette 12 gauge to the dome brains spaghetti next is Mrs. Hill who im gonna kill . . . and if a cop gets in my way, ill pop and spray like each and every way, hit him from toes up polka dot with my AK . . ."

In addition to threatening to kill the two school officials, Principal Michael Jette and Assistant Principal Pamela Hill, the poem threatened a police officer if the officer interfered.

A judge set a March trial date.

The newspaper also reported that it was unclear if Armendariz was still enrolled at the high school.

Full post as published by First Amendment Center on December 06, 2010 (boomark / email).