Anti-Vaxxer Convicted of Threatening Gay State Senator Scott Wiener
A jury in California convicted a man for threatening out state senator, Scott Wiener, via email earlier this year.Erik Triana, 51, was convicted on seven of eight counts related to an email he sent to Wiener’s web portal shortly after the senator introduced a bill that would have allowed minors 15 years of age or older to obtain a vaccine without the consent of a parent or guardian.
Triana, a father of three, was also convicted on multiple weapons charges.“Vax my kids without my permission and expect a visit from me and my rifle,” Triana wrote to Wiener in an email sent on January 22nd.
He signed the email “Amendment, Second” and listed the Moscone Center as his address.Wiener testified at trial that this threat was unique because the Moscone Center was named after the late San Francisco Mayor George Moscone who, along with iconic gay activist, Supervisor Harvey Milk, was assassinated in 1978.“Death threats against public officials undermine democracy,” Wiener said in a statement posted to social media following the conviction. “A public official should make decisions based on what benefits the community, not based on whether a decision will get the official killed.
Modern politics can be polarized and toxic, but we must never normalize or tolerate death threats.” During the course of their investigations, police linked the message to a computer Triana used at his work in Pleasanton.
