From People v. Farca, decided last week by California Court of Appeal Justice Tracie Brown, joined by Contra Costa County Judge Danielle Douglas:
Around June 2019, Farca had two accounts on Steam, an online gaming website and social platform…. The name of one of Farca's accounts was "Adolf Hitler (((6 MILLION)))." The description of the account said "Brenton Tarrant is a hero!!" and had an icon of the flag of New Zealand. Brenton Tarrant shot and killed about 50 Muslim people at mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand. The description of the Steam account also stated, "I have a fully semi automatic assault weapon AR15 with multiple high capacity magazines. Wanna see a mass shooting with a body count of over 30 subhumans?" The Nazi party in World War II referred to Jews as subhumans.
Using that account, Farca sent a message to three other users, saying, "I currently own an AR15 semi auto rifle but I can buy/make the auto sear and get the M16 parts kit. What do you think of me doing what John Earnest tried to do, but with a Nazi uniform, an unregistered and illegally converted 'machine gun' and actually livestreaming it with Nazi music? I would get a body count of like 30 kikes and then like 5 police officers because I would also decide to fight to the death 1) you don't surrender to the ZOG 2) ever watch US prison documentaries? Also I would not spam full auto, I would just use it for clusterf,ucks [sic] of kikes. Generally you want to be on semi auto only so you don't waste ammo plus depending on the target richness and need for suppression eventually I may go low on ammo so I would need to resupply from the dead officers since it's 5.56." Farca also posted, "I just would need a better target than f,ucking [sic] some random synagogue with kikes that aren't really a threat. Preferibly [sic] with some high value targets, even though they would have their own security." John Earnest shot and killed one person at a synagogue in Poway in early 2019. "Kike" is a derogatory term for a Jewish person.
Acting on a tip from the FBI, Detective Gregory Mahan of the Concord police found Farca's Steam posts. The FBI tip identified the Steam user as Farca. Mahan conducted a background check and discovered that Farca lived in Concord and had purchased a "stripped lower" for an AR-15 a few months earlier. A stripped lower is the most basic part of a firearm on which a gun is built by adding other components….
In [a search of] Farca's bedroom, police found, among other things, an AR-15-style semiautomatic rifle with a pistol grip, detachable magazine, telescoping stock, and two types of scopes…. Also in Farca's home were a Japanese sword, a military-style combat fixed-blade knife, and a military-style camouflage uniform. Farca had numerous history books about World War II and Nazi Germany, as well as two pro-Jewish books. Laptops and a cell phone in Farca's room had a large amount of anti-Semitic and pro-Nazi material, including a copy of Mein Kampf, as well as a video of the Christchurch shooting. The laptops were linked to the Steam accounts. The Internet history on Farca's laptops and phone included searches for "Concord police scanner," "First Lutheran Church in Concord," "sf jewish library," and "sf jewish museum." The devices had saved copies of Steam chats and Youtube comments in which Farca's account mentioned suicide by cop, being willing to slaughter law enforcement officers, and not being willing to go to prison.
Deborah K., the executive director of a synagogue in Lafayette, learned through a media article and law enforcement bulletin that Farca had been arrested less than 10 miles from the synagogue and had said online that he wanted to attack Jewish people and kill police. She also learned that the police seized an assault weapon during the search. Deborah K. felt concerned or threatened because of her knowledge of the attacks earlier that year by Tarrant and Earnest and the fact that Farca was arrested nearby with the means to carry out an attack. She contacted the local police, and the synagogue hired armed, full-time private security. Deborah K. knew that Farca had not posted anything directly identifying her synagogue or its rabbi or congregants….
The court upheld Farca's weapons-related convictions, as well as a conviction for threatening a police officer (for more on the facts of that, see the opinion), but it vacated his conviction for "interfering with another person's exercise of civil rights by threat of force … through his online posts":
