Prison term may result from 'joke'

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) _ A man who says he jokingly e-mailed death threats to an Oklahoma City woman could face two years in federal prison. <br/><br/>Michael Paul Burns of Oklahoma City was charged Friday

Saturday, September 10th 2005, 11:25 am

By: News On 6

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) _ A man who says he jokingly e-mailed death threats to an Oklahoma City woman could face two years in federal prison.

Michael Paul Burns of Oklahoma City was charged Friday with making death threats via e-mail to a woman authorities think was chosen at random.

According to court documents, the woman reported the threats to the FBI on September 2nd and authorities set a trap for the person responsible.

An affidavit states that Burns said the e-mails were meant to be a practical joke and that he didn't intend to kill the woman who received them.

The document also says Burns acknowledged sending at least 13 messages from five different e-mail accounts so the woman would be more likely to think the threats were real.

He also said he didn't have permission to use those e-mail accounts.