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  3. The Crime of Creating a False Impression

The Crime of Creating a False Impression

Aug 19, 2013 | Endangerment

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Creating a false impression doesn’t sound much like a criminal act. But when the impression created involves terrorism, you might be looking at a class 4 felony. An example came to a conclusion last week when Michael Turley was convicted by a jury of the crime, along with reckless endangerment, and sentenced to two weeks in jail and two years’ probation. Here’s the background.

Turley apparently put his 16-year old nephew up to wrapping a towel around his (the nephew’s) head holding a fake weapon that looked like a grenade launcher, and had him walk around the streets in Phoenix rush hour traffic. This prompted numerous calls to 911, causing a police response that included an air unit.

When officers arrived, Turley, who owns a production company, told them he was making a movie. No one was arrested, and that appeared to be the end of the incident. A short time later, the video of the incident was posted on YouTube, in which it was explained that the purpose was to test police response time when faced with a terrorist threat. At that point Turley was charged with one count each of endangerment and creating a false impression of an act of terrorism.

The endangerment count is a class 1 misdemeanor consisting of recklessly endangering another person with a substantial risk of imminent death or injury. The hoax, on the other hand, is a felony, and is specifically designed to deal with situations like the one presented here. Under A.R.S. 13-2925, creating a false impression of terrorism that would reasonably be expected to cause an emergency response is a crime. In addition to jail time and probation, Turley was ordered to perform 200 hours of community service. Finally, and as specifically allowed under the statute, he will be required to pay the costs of the government response to the incident, including the investigative costs. You can expect that number to be substantial.

This might be the last we hear of this case, although first amendment issues do sometimes have a way of embedding themselves in cases like this. We’ll keep an eye out for any developments.

Law Offices of David A. Black
40 North Central Avenue #1850
Phoenix, AZ 85004
(480) 280-8028

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