Summary

Briana Boston, 42, was charged with threatening a health insurance company after repeating words linked to the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.

During a recorded call with Blue Cross Blue Shield about a denied claim, Boston said, “Delay, deny, depose, you people are next,” echoing phrases engraved on bullet casings at Thompson’s murder scene.

Authorities allege she exploited the CEO’s homicide to make the threat.

Boston, a mother of three with no prior criminal record, was arrested and held on $100,000 bail amidst warnings of potential copycat incidents targeting healthcare executives.

  • jballs@sh.itjust.works
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    25
    ·
    2 hours ago

    The judge set her bail at $100,000, citing “the status of our country at this point”.

    So the judge is holding this lady personally responsible for the nation’s sentiment towards healthcare companies?

    • PM_Your_Nudes_Please@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      23
      ·
      5 hours ago

      I’d argue that the word are unarguably the killer’s. After all, they were written on the bullet cases that were used to kill the guy.

      Whether or not Luigi is the killer is still being decided by the courts. If they had said the words were Luigi’s, there would be an issue. But they didn’t say that; They said “CEO killer” instead, which simply attributes the words to whoever killed the dude.

      • Queen HawlSera@lemm.ee
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        2
        ·
        2 hours ago

        Disgusting, I can’t stand humanizing serial killers. UK doesn’t even HAVE a for-profit healthcare system (yet), but they still stand in solidarity with the haves against the have-nots

    • Primer - Zip@lemmy.zip
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      7
      ·
      edit-2
      5 hours ago

      Those are the killer’s words… whether Mangione is the killer is another story. not that I think this woman should be in jail either; it’s absolutely ridiculous that she is. The reporting is fairly objective though as far as I can tell.

    • nepenthes@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      9
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      edit-2
      6 hours ago

      I’m going to start hitting the contact us button every time and complain. Shame to see this from a public broadcaster.

      Edit:

      image is of verification that I complained

  • Treczoks@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    68
    arrow-down
    2
    ·
    10 hours ago

    Funny how fast and hard the state reacts if someone has something against the rich.

  • IninewCrow@lemmy.ca
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    180
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    13 hours ago

    A Health Insurance company denies your medical claims threatening your health and your life = good business

    A frustrated house wife who can’t afford health care threatens a billion dollar corporation = jail

    • krashmo@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      37
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      11 hours ago

      Pretty obvious indicator of where our collective priorities are, isn’t it?

      • forrgott@lemm.ee
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        12
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        9 hours ago

        Bullshit. Who has the power? Yes. But fuck no, that is not “collective priority”. Until people learn to with together, collective priority is utterly meaningless.

        This is the same shit billionaires use to justify their existence.

  • DancingBear@midwest.social
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    27
    arrow-down
    4
    ·
    10 hours ago

    Without knowing more, it is the “you people are next” that makes this a threat in particular. You should easily be able to say deny defend or depose or whatever, just don’t use threats

    • Cethin@lemmy.zip
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      13
      ·
      edit-2
      4 hours ago

      It’s a threat. They just have no reason to belive she, in particular, should be believed. It’s not a true threat, by legal standards. I’m not a lawyer, but I’m very confident of this. This is an obvious miscarriage of justice. Throwing a threat out in anger or frustration does not make a true threat.

        • Cethin@lemmy.zip
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          1 hour ago

          They are explicitly given as reasons other cases have been deemed not true threats, yeah. People are likely to throw threats out meaninglessly when angry. It’s not a good predictor of if they’ll actually follow through. There are other factors that are, like the victims history with the person and the persons past behavior. Just a threat in anger is not a true threat, based on existing legal precedence.

    • halcyoncmdr@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      20
      ·
      6 hours ago

      Hence why we have an actual standard for this…

      True Threat

      A random housewife giving a vague threat at the end of an already heated call by referencing a recent event involving the company, really doesn’t come close to the definition.

    • gamermanh@lemmy.dbzer0.com
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      20
      arrow-down
      2
      ·
      9 hours ago

      Pointing out that someone’s behaviour matches that which caused something bad to happen to someone else when you are not the one who did that bad thing to someone else is not a fucking threat

      • x00z@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        7
        ·
        8 hours ago

        Or you know, the person stops being a pussy and answers “yeah yeah sure lady”.

        99% of the threats aren’t real. And if you are not scared of a threat because you know it’s BS, you have not really been threatened now have you?

      • FuglyDuck@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        4
        arrow-down
        6
        ·
        8 hours ago

        After you reference a killing, and then say “you are next”, that’s a threat.

        The blatant implication is that the person they’re talking to is the next to get killed.

        It really is quite clear.

        It might be an empty threat, but the blue cross person can’t know that.

        • Cethin@lemmy.zip
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          7
          ·
          4 hours ago

          You’re saying it’s simple. It’s really not as simple as you think. The legal requirement is a true threat. (Google it) Just threatening someone in anger or frustration has been ruled to not be a true threat. They need a reason to believe you’ll follow through. This clearly is not that. It’s bullshit. It is purely done as an act of terrorism by the state. They want people to fear even mentioning the killer’s message.

          • FuglyDuck@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            2
            ·
            4 hours ago

            They need a reason to believe you’ll follow through. This clearly is not that. It’s bullshit.

            you don’t think they have a reason? I do. and they clearly did, or they’d never have reported it to cops.

            Remember, we’re talking about a phone rep for a fucking hated health insurance company. They’re used to dealing with angry people. they deal with them every other phone call.

            • Cethin@lemmy.zip
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              2
              ·
              4 hours ago

              Like you said, they deal with angry customers all the time. Why would they suspect this person is any different? It’s just about sending a message. They want us to be scared to ever bring it up, so they need to make an example out of some people.

              • FuglyDuck@lemmy.world
                link
                fedilink
                English
                arrow-up
                2
                arrow-down
                1
                ·
                3 hours ago

                or. just hear me out here. the lady really was scared because there’s something there.

                Even if it doesn’t rise to the level of being criminality, it’s still a threat, and that employee felt threatened enough to report it. do you really think anyone is actually scared to talk about it? I’m not. you’re not. Nobody else here isn’t either.

                • Cethin@lemmy.zip
                  link
                  fedilink
                  English
                  arrow-up
                  6
                  ·
                  3 hours ago

                  It’s a threat, yeah. True threat is what’s required by the law. You can’t just arrest everyone who makes a threat and hold them on $100,000 bail. That’d be insane.

                  do you really think anyone is actually scared to talk about it?

                  Yes. The judge just about admitted that was the purpose of setting the bail so high. You don’t get a bail set at $100,000 for a non-violent offender with family and no flight risk generally. It’s purely intimidation. They don’t want people to threaten the ultra-wealthy’s money, but the state is encouraged to threaten the people to make them stop.

        • gamermanh@lemmy.dbzer0.com
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          4
          arrow-down
          3
          ·
          7 hours ago

          After you reference a killing, and then say “you are next”, that’s a threat.

          Nope, even you say so:

          The blatant implication is that the person they’re talking to is the next to get killed.

          Notice how its not that the person speaking will do it even in your own rewording? That’s how it’s not a threat

          • FuglyDuck@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            4
            arrow-down
            5
            ·
            7 hours ago

            They implied the worker on the other end of the line would be the next one to suffer grevious bodily harm or death.

            It doesn’t matter if she’s the one doing the killing, doesn’t matter if it was “serious”, they used the threat of violence.

            It’s really that simple. You’re arguing a technicality that does not exist. Any reasonable person being on the other end of that line would have interpreted it as a threat. Period. Full stop.

            Maybe the lady shouldn’t have been denied. That’s probably true. She still made a threat; and she did so on a line that we all know is being recorded.

            I don’t know that it needs more than a “don’t do that”, but saying it wasn’t a threat is factually and legally incorrect.

            • Cethin@lemmy.zip
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              1
              ·
              1 hour ago

              It doesn’t matter if she’s the one doing the killing, doesn’t matter if it was “serious”, they used the threat of violence.

              It literally does matter legally, which is what’s being discussed surrounding her arrest, by law enforcement, and her bail being set by a Justice in a court of law.

              Please, before continuing further, do some reading on “true threat,” which is the legal requirement.

              https://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution-conan/amendment-1/true-threats

              https://firstamendment.mtsu.edu/article/true-threats/

            • gamermanh@lemmy.dbzer0.com
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              2
              arrow-down
              2
              ·
              6 hours ago

              They implied the worker on the other end of the line would be the next one to suffer grevious bodily harm or death.

              That’s called a warning, threats only can come from people who intend to act

              “You’re going to be next if you keep acting like this” is t a threat. “I’m going to make you the next one” is

              Its really that simple

    • tacosanonymous@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      14
      arrow-down
      2
      ·
      10 hours ago

      I have to agree with you, mostly.

      The system gets to make the rules and even if she didn’t say, “you people are next” I think they’d still be doing this. Corpos control our justice system and they will not tolerate us glorifying Luigi Mangione (please jurors look up "nullification”)

    • Sterile_Technique@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      7
      arrow-down
      2
      ·
      10 hours ago

      That was my thought as well. If she left it at DDD, that’s just showing opposition. “You people are next” is a pretty clear threat.

      Fuck the insurance companies, but be smart about how.

  • Cptn_Slow@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    80
    arrow-down
    3
    ·
    13 hours ago

    Once again, don’t fuck with rich people! They don’t like it when you point out their scam.

  • shittydwarf@lemmy.dbzer0.com
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    38
    ·
    12 hours ago

    Hmm the company is violating her human rights and endangering her life, they are the ones who should be in front of the judge

  • ohellidk@sh.itjust.works
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    34
    arrow-down
    2
    ·
    12 hours ago

    Making threats just tells them what the plans are. Move in silence, and do what needs to be done. You wouldn’t tell (or imply to) a cop that you’re planning on robbing a store, because they would expect it and act accordingly.

    STFU Fridays!