Two months after losing his bid for the Democratic nomination in Florida’s 20th Congressional District, Elijah Manley faces two counts of making written threats to kill.
Manley turned himself in to the Broward Sheriff’s Office on Friday, Oct. 16, and was released on a $40,000 bond. A condition of his release prohibits him from posting on social media.
According to an police report, Manley posted the alleged threats on Facebook on Aug. 20. The report cites two posts.
The first reads: “This the type shii that will make me snap. Any of you that don’t support [redacted] I promise you I will make your life a living hell to the very end. You better line up behind the Democratic nominee like we always do.”
The second reads: “Every democrat needs to get behind the democratic nominee for Senate. Anybody not doing that, I promise you I’m going to cut your fucking head off.”
According to the report, Manley acknowledged participating in the exchange with two women who told investigators they felt threatened. The report says the three knew one another through political activities and had no previous issues.
In another post that was shared on social media he singled out the two women by tagging them and writing “I'm talking to yall. I saw yall comments earlier. I'm already pissed off, do not piss me off more. I swear to god, take me to war over this black woman and I promise yall I will burn y'all mf castle to the ground and anyone else in my way.”
Manley’s attorney, Khurrum Wahid, described the exchange as an ongoing political discussion.
“The social media post in question was a discussion about politics that all parties had mutually engaged in over the course of weeks,” Wahid said.
Manley told OutSFL that his remarks were hyperbole and that legal precedent supports his position.
Facebook declined to remove the posts, saying they did not violate its standards concerning threats to safety.
When Manley was confronted by another activist on Facebook for his divisive posts he wrote: “I deleted that post because I made it out of anger and it was not reflective of me.”
The posts have since been removed. His next court date has not been set.
Jason Parsley also contributed to this report.
