NIGERIA MASTERWEB DAILY NEWS

*Nigerian American 'Terrorist' Uses Rap Argument

By Masterweb News Desk

Olutosin Oduwole, a naturalized Nigerian American and student at Southern Illinois University charged with threatening a shooting rampage pled not guilty in court on Thursday. Phillip Dennis, one of Oduwole's lawyers argued acquittal for his client on grounds of freedom of speech. Oduwole in addition to schooling was a rap artist, and this second career he attributes to the lyrics that landed him in hot soup. He argued that violent lyrics are not themselves weapons that result to injury or death. The naturalized rapper evoked reggae singer Bob Marley's "I Shot The Sheriff" as example of harmless violent lyrics.

Oduwole was arrested on Tuesday, July 24, 2007 after authorities say he threatened a "murderous rampage" similar to the Virginia Tech shootings that left 32 students and the gunman dead. On April 16, 2007 Virginia Tech student Cho Seung-Hui in a rampage killed 32 students, injuring 25 others before killing himself.

Oduwole's attorneys insist his writing was harmless music lyrics, urging the judge to throw out the threat charge on grounds of free-speech. The lawyers claim their client's legal troubles were traceable to his foreign last name and the "terror shock" of the September 11( 9/11 ), 2001 U.S. terrorist attack. "You cannot criminalize free speech", Jeffrey Urdangen, one of Oduwole's attorneys told the judge during the trial. ( Continues below..... )

Photo Above: Olutosin Oduwole

In a brief, Urdangen argued that "homicidal, first-person narratives are found in rock music and reggae, as well as other genres. The commonality of such statements across music genres suggests that no reasonable member of our society would interpret the lyrics written by Mr. Oduwole as an expression of intent to inflict death or serious bodily harm. It is beyond unjust to use written rap lyrics composed in private, shared with no one and found discarded in a car as the basis for prosecuting Mr. Oduwole and potentially subjecting him to many years in prison."

Prosecutors argued Oduwole's writing was comparable to the note found four months after a Virginia Tech student killed 32 people, injuring 25 on campus before killing himself. In their legal brief, they countered: "In an era where school shootings have become prominent tragedies, writing about a plan to commit such a shooting can't be overlooked, regardless of whether there is intent to carry it out." They noted that several deadly rampages were carried out by killers who had written notes with violent themes.

Prosecutors also noted in their brief that unlike Cash and Marley, Oduwole was unknown beyond his social network. This they argued meant that people coming across his claimed 'lyrics' demanding money and threatening mayhem may rightly and reasonably be alarmed and concerned. Another distinction prosecutors made was that "Bob Marley did not sing, 'I shot the sheriff, and in seven days I'm going to shoot the deputy.'"

Presiding judge deferred a ruling in the case. The felony threat count is punishable by up to 15 years in jail. Trouble started for Oduwole in 2007 when he bought three .38-caliber semiautomatic guns and a .45-caliber semiautomatic gun similar to an Uzi online and was in a hurry for the shipment. The gun dealer alerted U.S. Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives of Oduwole's impatience for the delivery.

U.S. firearms authorities on a search of Oduwole's on-campus apartment found a loaded handgun, U.S. and Nigerian passports. A threatening note was found in his disabled car demanding payment to a PayPal account, threatening: "if this account doesn't reach $50,000 in the next 7 days then a murderous rampage similar to the VT shooting will occur at another highly populated university. THIS IS NOT A JOKE!" He was subsequently arrested. School records as at the time of his arrest listed his home address as in Maplewood, New Jersey and enrolled in summer classes. He was on academic probation a year earlier according to the records.

RELATED LINK: US accuses Nigerian of terrorist threat:- http://www.africamasterweb.com/AdSense/NigerianUSaccusesTerroristThreat.html