Bond denied for man charged with threatening Falwell, reporter
Berkley Carter Mills
Bond was denied Friday for a man accused of threatening the life of Jerry Falwell Jr. and sending threatening e-mails to a reporter for The News & Advance.
Judge Thomas Firth refused to set a bond in Lynchburg General District Court for Berkley Carter Mills, 56, of the 600 block of Reusens Road, saying he believed the man was a threat to himself and others.
Mills was arrested last month on the charge of charge of making threats of death or bodily injury by letter against Falwell via The News & Advance’s online comments. He was out on a $10,000 bond when he was arrested again on charges of stalking and making threats of death or bodily injury by letter to The News & Advance reporter Chris Dumond.
Mills’ attorney James DeVita said that his client’s comments did not constitute making a direct threat against either man and can be taken as political commentary.
He said Mills is disabled from a back injury and that he has specific medical needs that can’t be addressed in the Blue Ridge Regional Jail.
Assistant Commonwealth Attorney Chuck Felmlee told the court that while Mills was out on bond and sending e-mails to Dumond, he also left an obscenity-filled message on the voicemail of Lynchburg Pulmonary Associates.
Felmlee said Mills has been convicted of crimes in Virginia, Florida and New York, including felony driving while intoxicated and disorderly conduct.
DeVita said he intends to ask for a change on venue in the case because “trying a case against Falwell in Lynchburg would be like trying a case against the pope in the Vatican.”
The stalking charge is a misdemeanor. The charge of making threats of death or bodily injury by letter is a Class 6 felony, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison.
Mills appears in court again on Nov. 14 for a preliminary hearing on the two felony charges of communicating threats and will have a trial on the same date for the misdemeanor stalking charge.
For more details on Mills’ bond hearing, check back with NewsAdvance.com or see tomorrow’s edition of The News & Advance.
Related:
Man charged with threatening Falwell’s life via Web site
Man charged with threat now charged with stalking
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Reader Reactions
He does need help but he won’t find it in jail I too hope his lawyer can get him in a facility. Once before he said that your not aware that your acting crazy but all of the people around you are. I feel bad for him he really is a nice guy and nobody chooses to be mentally ill. I hope that he will be Okay jail is hard on the mentally ill.
I would say almost hands down that his continued anger displayed in his posts and other places is a symptom of his illness. The anger is out of porportion to the threat, making me think that whatever his condition, it’s been that way for a long time.
Unfortunately, it would cost more to put him in a mental hospital to be evaluated. So they’ll let him suffer in jail until his trial. Hopefully, his lawyer will be able to convince folks that Freedom’s mental health is a determining factor in his behavior and make the decision to treat him instead of punishing him. They also need to make sure he doesn’t come out of the mental facility until he’s really no longer a threat to himself or others.
He’s in jail to protect the people he’s threatened. It’s apparently not obvious if his mental illness played a part in what he did. His lawyer will make sure that he is evaluated, and it may play a part in his defense. In the meantime, you can’t just assume that his actions were a result of mental illness. If you had read his posts over the past year or so, you would have seen that he’s a very angry man. Whether that’s part of his illness, I don’t know.
Couldn’t his admitted mental illness, also be taken into account that maybe he doesn’t know what he is say or is doing so just to return to jail because he can not function in normal society. And maybe this man should be receiving help at a mental hospital rather than sitting in a jail receiving no help at all!
a27vanut, I believe that prior convictions are sometimes admissible, although I don’t know if they would be in this case. Threats are not protected under freedom of speech.
Have you read any of the related stories about this? Mills posted here under the name of freedom, and he said that he had been arrested 19 times, including by the Secret Service. On another site, he said that he had battled mental illness most of his life and that the police were aware of that. All those things taken together mean that any threats he makes need to be taken somewhat seriously.
Last time I checked prior bad acts are not admittable in court, and freedom of speech was not against the law.
GREAT DAY , FREEDOM ISNT GOING TO SEE THE LIGHT OF DAY AGAIN IS HE?
I’M SURE HE HAS HAD TIME TO THINK ABOUT WHAT THE HECK HE’S DONE!
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