'Burning Bush' comment draws prison term

http://www.cnn.com/2002/ALLPOLITICS/12/06/burning.bush.ap/

'Burning Bush' comment draws prison term
Man plans to appeal
Friday, December 6, 2002 Posted: 2:59 PM EST (1959 GMT)

SIOUX FALLS, South Dakota (AP) -- A man who made a remark about a "burning
Bush" during the president's March 2001 trip to Sioux Falls was sentenced
Friday to 37 months in prison.

Richard Humphreys of Portland, Oregon was convicted in September of
threatening to kill or harm the president and said he plans to appeal. He
has said the comment was a prophecy protected under his right to free
speech.

Humphreys said he got into a barroom discussion in nearby Watertown with a
truck driver. A bartender who overheard the conversation realized the
president was to visit Sioux Falls the next day and told police Humphreys
talked about a "burning Bush" and the possibility of someone pouring a
flammable liquid on Bush and lighting it.

"I said God might speak to the world through a burning Bush," Humphreys
testified during his trial. "I had said that before and I thought it was
funny."