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Did Justin Carter make a threat, or a sarcastic joke? That鈥檚 the question in the case of the New Braunfels, Texas, teenager arrested for a comment posted on Facebook that鈥檚 generating national attention.

Mr. Carter was arrested several months ago on a third-degree felony charge of making a 鈥渢erroristic threat.鈥� According to court documents, police allege that he posted, 鈥淚鈥檓 [expletive] in the head alright. I鈥檓a shoot up a kindergarten/ And watch the blood of the innocent rain down/ And eat the beating heart of one of them.鈥�

According to Carter鈥檚 family and lawyer, the comment was a sarcastic response to a comment by another Facebook poster. He was 18 at the time, and 鈥渢his was banter by kids on the Internet鈥�. He鈥檚 a gamer鈥�. He never intended to threaten anyone, he wasn鈥檛 serious,鈥� says Donald Flanary, a defense attorney who recently took up the case on a pro bono basis.

A tip routed to a regional intelligence center led to Carter鈥檚 arrest, Mr. Flanary says. 鈥淚 can see how law enforcement can be sensitive to those kinds of comments, and I鈥檓 glad that there鈥檚 a system to catch it,鈥� he adds. But for Carter to be jailed for months based on Facebook comments taken out of context, with bail set at $500,000 鈥� about five times higher than many murder cases 鈥� is an injustice, he says.

This isn鈥檛 the first time a teen Facebook post has led to charges of making threats. In Massachusetts this spring, an 18-year-old was arrested for a comment referring to bombing and murder, but a grand jury determined it was in the context of rap lyrics he was writing rather than a genuine threat.

There鈥檚 no widespread trend of such cases, 鈥渂ut even a handful of cases where Americans lose their liberty for intemperate postings should get our attention,鈥� says Ken Paulson, president of the First Amendment Center at the Newseum in Washington and dean of the College of Mass Communication at Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro. 鈥淭here are safeguards that should lead to a critical analysis of provocative speech,鈥� he says.

In Carter鈥檚 case, Mr. Paulson says, it seems like 鈥渢he entire [legal] system has overreacted to this post.鈥�

It鈥檚 also one example of the myriad ways people are stumbling into trouble for behavior that has a wider audience on the Internet but would never get people into trouble back in the day when trash-talking simply took place in the living room as people played a violent video game, or when drunkenness was witnessed only by a few friends at a party.

Societally, people may want to steer fellow citizens away from using violent imagery in their online comments, but when it comes to police involvement, 鈥渋t鈥檚 critical that we ensure their constitutional rights are protected, and free speech is at the core of that,鈥� Paulson says.

A hearing to reconsider Carter鈥檚 bail is set for July 16.

Carter鈥檚 father tells NPR that his son has been traumatized in jail 鈥� seriously assaulted and put in solitary confinement because he鈥檚 been depressed. Attorney Flanary says that Carter could eventually pursue a federal civil rights lawsuit for being wrongfully arrested and detained.

The legal process has failed at several points along the way, Flanary says. Carter was arrested before police confirmed that the Facebook post genuinely came from his computer 鈥� a step that鈥檚 usually routine before even suspected child pornographers are arrested, he says. Police searched his house and found no guns or other threatening material. And it appears that they didn鈥檛 look at the context of the Facebook post before arresting him.

Flanary says that prosecutors have since subpoenaed that information from Facebook but haven鈥檛 produced anything along those lines yet.

Flanary also says the small screenshot originally sent by the tipster includes a negative comment against Carter, and that context was not included in the arrest warrant and indictment materials.

Context is important because if Carter鈥檚 post was provoked by another鈥檚 comment and was followed up by an acronym such as JK 鈥� for 鈥渏ust kidding鈥� 鈥� as his father has said in an interview with National Public Radio -- then on the face of it, it would clearly not be a threat, Paulson of the First Amendment Center says.

Flanary speculates that one reason Carter has been jailed is that 鈥渘o individual agency wants to be the one that says, 鈥業t鈥檚 not a threat, let it go,鈥� because then if something happens 鈥� they have to explain why they didn鈥檛 do more.鈥�

Comal County (Texas) District Attorney Jennifer Tharp would not comment on the details of a pending case but said in a press release that the charge carries a potential penalty of two to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000. A defendant never previously convicted of a felony may be eligible for 鈥渄eferred adjudication community supervision,鈥� which, if served successfully, would not result in a criminal record.

Ever since the mass shooting at Columbine High School in Colorado in 1999, many states have bolstered laws to make it clear that threats against schools will be taken seriously and prosecuted, says Ronald Stephens, executive director of the National School Safety Center in听Westlake Village, Calif. Indeed, tips from students about suspicious statements by their peers have prevented school attacks in recent years.

But threat assessment teams that include educators, law enforcement, and mental health experts should be in place to determine when someone鈥檚 comments or actions constitute a real threat, Mr. Stephens says.

鈥淲e rely on those enforcing the laws to use good, solid, fair, consistent judgment, and that seems to be the question in this [Carter] case 鈥� whether it鈥檚 been fair and reasonable,鈥� Stephens says. If prosecutors can鈥檛 at some point 鈥減roduce their threat assessment process, they鈥檝e got a real problem,鈥� he says.