NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — District Attorney General Glenn Funk testified late Tuesday that he took precautions following what a police detective called a "vaguely worded" online threat by a Texas neo-Nazi.
That came as the federal trial began for David Bloyed, 60, of Frost, Texas, who is charged with using interstate communications to make a threat. Bloyed is an admitted member of the Goyim Defense League, the group that descended onto Nashville streets last July.
Police admitted there is no evidence that Bloyed, who posted under the name of Schwetty Balls, was ever in Nashville or attempted to come to Nashville. Still, Funk insisted he was concerned because Bloyed was part of a group that was in Tennessee.
"When it is a group, that makes it even more dangerous because they can gas each other up," Funk told the jury.
During opening statements, a federal prosecutor told jurors that Bloyed posted the threats after another member of the Goyim Defense League was arrested for attacking a Nashville bartender on a downtown street. The bartender first assaulted another member of the group, and Bloyed was upset that one of his own was being kept in jail.
One of the posts linked to Bloyed shows Funk's online biography with the caption "getting the rope." Prosecutors say that refers to white supremacist lore about a future "day of the rope" when race traitors will be hanged.
Another meme, which did not mention Funk by name, showed a drawing of a person being lynched alongside a swastika.
"The 'Rope list' grew by a few more Nashville jews today," the caption read.
Defense attorneys pounced on an email by Metro police Detective Steven Rowlett that referred to the posts as "vaguely threatening."
"Did you think he was going to come hang him?" asked Federal Public Defender Mary K. Harcombe.
"It's possible — I don't know," Rowlett answered.
When a prosecutor followed up, the detective said that he could not rule out the possibility that members of the group might attack Funk in other ways.
Still, another federal public defender, Will Allensworth, insisted that Bloyed was just spouting off.
"What he did was post a lot of things online that you are going to find really reprehensible," Allensworth said during his opening statement, admitting that "at the end of this trial, you are probably not going to like Mr. Bloyed very much."
Still, he insisted, "this is hate speech. It is shocking, it is foul, but it is not a crime."
Bloyed faces up to five years in federal prison if convicted.
Testimony continues Wednesday.
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