A Detroit man now faces prison time for a 2016 Facebook rant against police.
Nheru Littleton pleaded guilty to making a terrorist threat this week. That was in the form of Facebook comments making general threats against police in July 2016, including statements like “Kill all white cops!” and “F**k them police.”
Attorney General Bill Schuette prosecuted Littleton on the terrorism charge after Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy declined to, saying there wasn’t enough evidence.
“This plea should serve as a reminder that threatening the safety of these men and women will be treated with the utmost significance and those that make these threats will be faced with the highest consequences,” Schuette said in a statement.
Schuette took up the case upon the request of Detroit Police Chief James Craig after Worthy’s decision, noting that Littleton’s comments caused Dearborn Police to “issue a Law Enforcement Information Network message to all area law enforcement agencies indicating that a significant threat had been made to the lives of police officers.”
But Littleton says his comments were too vague to be a true threat, and argued they were constitutionally-protected free speech. They also said he wrote them while drunk on vacation in Puerto Rico.
The case bounced around state courts for months, before the Michigan Supreme Court declined to take it up and sent it back to Wayne County Circuit Court for Littleton to stand trial.
Now that he’s pleaded guilty, Littleton could face up to 20 years behind bars. His sentencing is scheduled for April.
