Canadian blogger guilty in Harper threat

CALGARY, Alberta, Dec. 9 (UPI) -- A Canadian blogger escaped jail time for the death threat he issued against Prime Minister Stephen Harper in an online rant he says was a joke gone bad.

Alberta provincial court Judge Judith Shriar issued a written judgment Monday against Patrick David Fenton, 27, of Canmore, the Calgary Herald reported Tuesday. Fenton was given a suspended sentence, placed on one year's probation and ordered to complete 60 hours of community service.

It was Fenton's second go-around on the matter. He was acquitted at trial last year but that verdict was overturned on appeal by the prosecution.

Fenton found himself in legal hot water for his online blog entries two years ago, in which he wrote that the federal government was destroying Canada and he wanted to kill Harper "so slowly I want you to suffer terribly begging for your life."

He also expressed the same desire to do in Bloc Quebecois Leader Gilles Duceppe and Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach. His posting was accompanied by a photograph of himself wearing ski goggles and holding a knife between his teeth.

Fenton testified his writings were "pretty much a giant joke," the Herald reported.

"I went extremely overboard," he had admitted to police.