Michigan appeals court finds terrorism threat law unconstitutional, tosses Wayne Co. case

Michigan’s law about making a terroristic threat or a false threat of terrorism has been found by a three-judge Michigan Court of Appeals panel to be unconstitutional.

Judges Michael Kelly, Mark Boonstra and Allie Greenleaf Maldonado wrote that the Michigan law violates the First Amendment because it does not account for a person’s state of mind while making the alleged threat.

The judges ruled Thursday that the charges Wayne County prosecutors filed against Michael Kvasnicka, of Grosse Ile, were “facially unconstitutional” and ordered them to be dismissed.

Kvasnicka was accused of making a false terrorism report when he sent a message to a Trenton Public Schools student on social media in September 2023 stating she was “not gonna be laughing once I come to your school and shoot it up or blow it up like [C]olumbine,” according to the Court of Appeals order.

Read more: The Detroit News