Yesterday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit in Cincinnati upheld the conviction of a divorced Tennessee dad with the unlikely name of Franklin Delano Jeffries II who, in the midst of a custody battle, decided to post a YouTube video of himself singing a song with the sweet title “Daughter’s Love.”
The problem was that only a small portion of the song was actually about daughters and love; the rest was about Mr. Jeffries’ apparent desire to kill the judge overseeing the custody hearings, and possibly others.
As the appeals court judge put it:
The song contains sweet passages about relationships between fathers and daughters and the importance of spending time together. The rest boils into an assortment of the banal (complaints about his ex-wife), the ranting (gripes about lawyers and the legal system) and the menacing (threats to kill the judge if he doesn’t “do the right thing” at an upcoming custody hearing). Jeffries set the words to music and created a video of himself performing the song on a guitar painted with an American flag on it. The style is part country, part rap, sometimes on key, and surely therapeutic.
Here are the song’s opening verses:
I’ve had enough of this abuse from you.
It has been goin’ on for 13 years.
I have been to war and killed a man.
I don’t care if I go to jail for 2,000 years.
’Cause this is my daughter we’re talkin’ about,
And when I come to court this better be the last time.
I’m not kidding at all, I’m making this video public
’Cause if I have to kill a judge or a lawyer or a woman I don’t care.
One of Jeffries’ lawyers told the Wall Street Journal that this was all a misunderstood attempt at humor and that his client “never dreamed this message would get back to the judge,” a fact seemingly belied by that whole “I’m not kidding at all” line and the bit that followed about making the video public.
He followed this threat with a brief tribute to his daughter:
I love you; daughters are the beautiful things in my life.
It keeps me going and keeps me alive everyday.
And then it was back to threats (I’ve put the direct threats in bold):
I’m not kidding, judge, you better listen to me.
I killed a man downrange in war.
I have nothing against you, but I’m tellin’ you this better be the last court date. …
So I promise you, judge, I will kill a man.
This time better be the last time I end up in court …
And this s___ needs to stop because you’re gonna lose your job.
And I guarantee you, if you don’t stop, I’ll kill you.
’Cause I am gonna make a point either way you look at it somebody’s gotta pay,
And I’m telling you right now live on the Internet.
So put me in jail and make a big scene. …
So I’m gonna f___ somebody up, and I’m going back to war in my head.
So July the 14th is the last time I’m goin’ to court.
Believe that. Believe that, or I’ll come after you after court. Believe that.
I love my daughter.
Nobody’s going take her away from me.
’Cause I got four years left to make her into an adult.
I got four years left until she’s eighteen.
So stop this s___ because I’m getting tired of you,
And I don’t care if everybody sees this Internet site
Because it is the truth and it’s war. …
If fathers don’t have rights or women don’t have their rights or equal visitation,
Get their ass out of office.
’Cause you don’t deserve to be a judge and you don’t deserve to live.
You don’t deserve to live in my book.
And you’re gonna get some crazy guy like me after your ass.
And I hope I encourage other dads to go out there and put bombs in their goddamn cars.
Blow ’em up …
BOOM!
There went your f___in’ car. I can shoot you. I can kill you. I can
f___ you. Be my friend. Do something right. Serve my daughter.
Well, prosecutors took him up on that offer to “put [him] in jail,” and a jury agreed; Jeffries was sentenced to 18 months for his threats. And now the conviction has been upheld in Circuit Court.
You can read rest of the lyrics and the judge’s opinion here. (It’s in pdf form.)
I don’t know, was the worst part the death threats or the terrible scanning?
Shocking. I can’t imagine why any sane judge would think him unfit to be a parent to a teenaged girl, or any child, for that matter. [/sarcasm]
On another note…these are song lyrics? I can’t find a single rhyme, and the only way any of it scans is if there has been a radical redefinition of the concept of syllables.
InB4 “You’re taking this out of context!”
@Karalora: That’s the problem with living in the place where so many great musicians were born … everybody thinks they’re the next one.
I almost want to hear him sing it just because no matter how many times I read it I cannot find a rhythm for the lyrics.
He has two web sites:
http://filmknoxville.com/
http://www.dalejeffries.com/
He links to the video on the first one.
So let me get this straight. Guy with upcoming court case posts youtube video and then spams the link in facebook to people with messages about wanting to have the judge see it for court. Then when the judge does see it and the obvious happens he has the gall to claim lyrics like “And I guarantee you, if you don’t stop, I’ll kill you.” about the judge, that he wanted the judge to see for court, were never meant as a threat. This guy is hella dumb and lacks the courage of his convictions.
Don’t name your kids after Presidents living or dead, famous Confederate generals, or Hindu gods. Nothing good will come of it.
“I’ll do anything for my child! Anything!”
“…Well, anything except shut up my big stupid ego and actually work with the system. You can’t expect me to do that.”
Hellkell – Well, there’s George Washington Carver.
@Cliff: Yeah, heaven forbid they should be prevented from throwing a major, public tantrum, or that they should ever suffer consequences for major public tantrums including threats to kill a judge.
Word around town says one of the local judges wears a gun under his robes in the courtroom. I’m not sure I think that’s going too far.
http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2011/mar/31/army-sergeants-web-video-nets-conviction/ OK, so the guy has no singing talent at all. On the other hand, I smell a new MRA saint for them to wave around as proof, PROOF I tell you!!!, of the evil misandrist feminist conspiracy.
I hope his daughter never saw the video. Jesus.
Cliff, I was being a wiseass.
I know I’m probably missing the point entirely but:
So these are all individual discrete entities? Is he planning to just kill any old random woman? Because it sure sounds that way.
Skeptifem, I was thinking the same thing.
He’s all “I love you, honey. ENOUGH TO MURDER PEOPLE BECAUSE THEY WON’T LET ME HAVE MY WAY.” I’d be a little terrified of that sort of “love” if I were her.
@Linds: I’m pretty sure that “a woman” is a specific woman in his mind — the mother. But yeah, it is pretty vague.
I had a client once (not family law) whose attitude toward all legal-related issues was “I’ll do anything except work within the system.” Never seemed to matter how good the odds were in his favor or how easy working within the system was, either.
I think I had the same tail-chasing conversation with him a dozen different times on various issues, and it always went something like this:
Him: “I’ll do anything to get this resolved as soon as possible.”
Me: “Okay, then [fill out this paperwork/show up for this court date/etc.].”
Him: “I don’t want to do this the way everyone’s always done it.”
Me: “Well, that’s how you’re going to get this resolved as soon as possible. Otherwise you’re looking at a drawn-out, expensive battle.”
Him: “I don’t want a fight. I want to get this resolved as soon as possible. I’ll do whatever it takes.” [repeat from start]
He turned into a rampaging misogynist/MRA-type in later years. But I can’t imagine those two are related. *whistles*
@Falconer: I guessed that but they way the lyrics are written it’s like he’s trying for plausible deniability (so he doesn’t have to explain to his daughter why he’s threatening to kill her mom, maybe) but because he’s already completely blown that out of the water by saying he’s going to kill the judge it just ends up sounding like he’s going to go kill a couple of random women instead.
Y’know, one of my brothers was kinda like this guy in high school. He just stopped going to classes or turning in homework, so it was clear graduation wasn’t a sure thing anymore. They bent over backwards to help him–first they dropped his course load, then they moved him to independent study (where it was basically “fill out these worksheets for graduation”). Over and over he assured us that he wanted to graduate, but two weeks before they were due, he had months worth of worksheets piled up on his desk. And first he’d say, “I’ll work on them later!” and then turn around and start into, “Well, I’m going to trade school, I don’t need my diploma, I could get a GED, my band could take off, what kind of rock star needs high school, anyway?” instead of doing the obvious and, like, sitting his ass down and powering through the work he had left. It was everybody else’s fault–his teacher, my parents, me, his friends, the politicians who changed the graduate requirements–and I’m pretty glad he had neither the technology or the impusle to record himself and put what he said about people online. I might be visiting him in prison right now.
But my brother was 17. And had just discovered pot. And finally got his act together and did what needed to be done, even though it meant a lot of sleepless nights until he got it finished. Oh, and he was a much better musician.
So, not really like that guy at all, actually. Sigh. I fail.
I only have 4 years in which I can legally enforce my bullshit on her, before the law says she’s old enough to kick me to the kerb. You HAVE to take her away from her mother, who’s putting all kinds of independent ideas in her head.
Yeah, right. Hopefully he’ll continue his ass-headedness in jail and not get released until she’s 18.
My heart goes out to the daughter. She’s going to need some excellent therapy to get through this with minimal scarring. Consider that she’s already had 14 years of living with her father, she’s probably already suffering some trouble. Mr. Jeffries comes across as a man who feels ownership of his family rather than love.
Poor kid.
Two things: holy shit!!
Its about time.
Now…about the other threats being posted online…. I bet certain MRAs are sweating just a little bit.
And this prince among men was not automatically given full custody? MISANDRY!
(Android autocorrect does not recognize “misaNdry” and has zero suggestions. MISANDRY!)