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The US Supreme Court has thrown out the conviction of a man who posted violent messages about his wife and co-workers on Facebook, in a case that was being closely watched over its potential implications for online speech.
美国最高法院(US Supreme Court)推翻了一名在Facebook上对其妻子和同僚发出威胁性言论的男子的罪名。该案由于对网上言论具有的潜在影响，受到了密切的关注。
Anthony Elonis was convicted on four counts of transmitting threatening content in 2011 after ranting online about wanting his wife dead and, in one photograph posted on the social media network, holding a toy knife to the neck of a co-worker at an amusement park with the caption “I wish”.
2011年，安东尼•埃罗尼斯(Anthony Elonis)因四次传播威胁性内容而被定罪。他在社交媒体网络Facebook上大放厥词，称要杀死自己的妻子——在上传的一张照片中，他手握一把玩具刀指向游乐场一名同僚的脖子，同时配上文字称“我希望”(I wish)。
Mr Elonis argued that he was under emotional duress after his wife of nearly seven years left with their two children and that he was merely venting through Facebook.
埃罗尼斯辩称，他与妻子结婚近7年，当妻子带着他们的两个孩子离开之后，他感到很郁闷，他只不过是通过Facebook泄愤。
The Supreme Court, in a 7-2 decision, threw out his conviction on Monday, ruling that the jury was not properly instructed in the case. The US high court said that it was not enough for the government to establish that a “reasonable” person would have viewed Mr Elonis’s posts as threatening.
周一，美国最高法院以7票赞同、2票反对的比例，推翻了他被判的罪名。最高法院认定，陪审团在该案中对案情掌握不当。最高法院表示，美国政府没有足够证据证明一位“有理性的”人会把埃罗尼斯的发言视为威胁。
In a narrow ruling that dodged the First Amendment issues some free speech advocates expected the court to address, the justices found that the government must show that a defendant intended their posts to be threatening, or at least understood there was a possibility they would be viewed as a crime, to be convicted under the federal law barring the transmission of threatening content.
在一份避开了美国宪法第一修正案问题（有些倡导言论自由的人希望法庭提到这些问题）的狭义裁决中，法官们认定，政府必须证明一名被告人故意用言论来发出威胁，或者起码要明白该言论有可能被视为一项犯罪行为，唯有这样，才能依据阻止传播威胁性内容的联邦法律对其定罪。
