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Date: 04-04-2023
Case Style:
Case Number: 1:23-mj-01123
Judge: Matthew J. Maddox
Court: United States District Court for the District of Maryland (Baltimore County)
Plaintiff's Attorney: United States District Attorney's Office in Baltimore
Defendant's Attorney:
Description: Baltimore, Maryland criminal defense lawyer represented Defendant charged with using the telephone to threaten a group that advocates for LGBTQ individuals.
On the evening of March 28, 2023, the victim organization received a threatening voicemail from a phone number, which investigators identified as belonging to Adam Michael Nettina. The message referenced the March 27, 2023, mass shooting at a school in Nashville, Tennessee, involving multiple shooting fatalities, where the perpetrator was publicly identified as being transgender. During the call, numerous threats were made including, “…We’ll cut your throats. We’ll put a bullet in your head….You’re going to kill us? We’re going to kill you ten times more in full.”
If convicted, Nettina faces a maximum sentence of five years in federal prison for interstate communications with a threat to injure. Actual sentences for federal crimes are typically less than the maximum penalties. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after taking into account the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
United States Attorney Erek L. Barron and Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke commended the FBI for its work in the investigation. Mr. Barron and Ms. Clarke thanked Assistant U.S. Paul E. Budlow and Deputy Chief Bobbi Bernstein of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, who are prosecuting the federal case.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Maryland (USAO-MD) is launching the national Department of Justice initiative, United Against Hate, this spring. Together with our local partners, USAO-MD’s United Against Hate campaign will empower local residents and communities to combat unlawful acts of hate, stand against racism and discrimination and alter the course of growing intolerance.
18 U.S.C. § 875(c) Interstate Communications with a Threat to Injure
(a) Whoever transmits in interstate or foreign commerce any communication containing any demand or request for a ransom or reward for the release of any kidnapped person, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than twenty years, or both.
(b) Whoever, with intent to extort from any person, firm, association, or corporation, any money or other thing of value, transmits in interstate or foreign commerce any communication containing any threat to kidnap any person or any threat to injure the person of another, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than twenty years, or both.
(c) Whoever transmits in interstate or foreign commerce any communication containing any threat to kidnap any person or any threat to injure the person of another, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than five years, or both.
(d) Whoever, with intent to extort from any person, firm, association, or corporation, any money or other thing of value, transmits in interstate or foreign commerce any communication containing any threat to injure the property or reputation of the addressee or of another or the reputation of a deceased person or any threat to accuse the addressee or any other person of a crime, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than two years, or both.
Outcome: A criminal complaint is not a finding of guilt. An individual charged by criminal complaint is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty at some later criminal proceedings.
Plaintiff's Experts:
Defendant's Experts:
Comments: