A judge in Island County Superior Court dismissed a 2022 hate crime charge against a North Whidbey man accused of making a threat against a gay woman.

The arrest of 30-year-old Tyler Dinsmoor was high profile, with seven agencies — including federal law enforcement — serving the $1 million arrest warrant at his home with armed vehicles, a hostage negotiation team and even a helicopter. Since then, the case slowly wound through the court, with the latest trial date set for June.

On Friday, Judge Christon Skinner granted a defense motion to dismiss the single hate crime charge against Tyler Dinsmoor, who allegedly told a gay woman that “it used to be legal to kill gay people,” although he claimed she just overheard him talking about the Bible. Skinner ruled that the comment did not constitute a “true threat” under law. He dismissed the charge without prejudice, which means the prosecution could refile it in the future.

Dinsmoor’s attorney, Brent Thompson of Coupeville, wrote in an email that he hopes people understand that the ruling was “not a political decision, policy preference, nor did it reflect personal opinions.”

“The law simply required the conclusion the trial court reached,” he said. “In many ways Mr. Dinsmoor’s matter was decided long ago by appellate courts. The First Amendment provides citizens with broad and robust protections regardless of ideology. The judicial officer hearing this matter faithfully and honorably applied the law as it is written without bias, fear or favor.”

Prosecutors unsuccessfully argued that the comment constituted a hate crime in the context of Dinsmoor’s online vitriol against gay people, Black people and women. Court documents in the case contain numerous instances of his written comments and videos on Gab.com, a social networking site known for a far-right userbase.

Dinsmoor, for example, posted about killing a sheep on his small farm because he thought it was gay. He posted still images from a video of the killing and wrote “this…is the first animal I have executed for inexcusable degeneracy” and that he “dumped shells into the head of a gay sheep,” a prosecution motion states.

Skinner acknowledges in his decision that Dinsmoor’s social media posts were “generally bigoted, racist, homophobic, and, frankly, reprehensible,” but he concluded that the “larger context” of the online posts weren’t relevant to the charge; he found it significant that the alleged victim in the case wasn’t aware of Dinsmoor’s online posts when she heard him make the comment but learned of them afterward.

“This Court is deeply mindful that hate speech, left unchecked, breeds harm and fear,” Skinner wrote. “The defendant’s social media history reveals a disturbing and antisocial worldview. Nevertheless, it is a bedrock principle of our legal tradition that we do not punish individuals for their beliefs, no matter how vile, but only for unlawful actions proved under the law.”

In the motion to dismiss, Thompson wrote that Dinsmoor used Gab.com to “converse with people who are politically marginalized, pro-white, Christian and follow the Bible” and that his language was sometimes hyperbolic and intended for the site’s far-right audience.

“Mr. Dinsmoor’s expressions of his views may not be popular, but they are protected,” Thompson wrote.

The “true threats doctrine” is the central issue in the case. The Supreme Court ruled a statement is not protected speech if a reasonable person could interpret it as a serious expression of an intent to inflict bodily harm.

The main allegations of the case against Dinsmoor are not disputed. As Skinner wrote, the alleged victim and her wife were unloading groceries at their North Whidbey home on June 1, 2022 when she heard someone say, “It used to be legal to kill people.” She turned around and saw Dinsmoor standing in the window of a home across the street, allegedly looking at her.

The woman never met or talked to Dinsmoor prior to the incident. The woman did not immediately call the police but later became aware of his posts.

As detailed in court documents, Dinsmoor used offensive slurs to refer to people in the LGBTQ+ community throughout the posts and often referenced the Bible. In various posts, Dinsmoor wrote that God hates gay people, that “sodomites all deserve to die,” that he wants the death penalty for all gay people and that “all homosexuals are child-rapists in wait, and all (every single one) should be put to death immediately,” a police report states.

Dinsmoor posted an image of the Anacortes Pride Parade flyer with the comment “talk me out of it.” He also posted a Photoshopped image of a man with a shoulder holster pointing a handgun at a group of people who appear to be in a gay pride parade, the report states.

After learning about the posts, the woman became more alarmed about the comment Dinsmoor had made to her and called the police.

Based on the posts and the fact that he owns guns, local and federal law enforcement officials grew concerned that Dinsmoor represented “an extreme risk to the public, especially the upcoming Pride events in the area,” an Oak Harbor detective wrote in a report.

Skinner authorized a $1 million arrest warrant on Dinsmoor. Officers and agents from various law enforcement agencies descended on Dinsmoor’s home on June 17, 2022, the day before the Anacortes event.

Craig Platt, Thompson law partner, said the emergency response was an overreaction and far more than what would be normal for a “hot homicide” with a dead person lying on the ground.

“That ridiculous National Emergency Level response speaks for itself,” he wrote.

Skinner later reduced Dinsmoor’s bail to $150,000 and ordered him to surrender his firearms. Dinsmoor posted a property bond and was released from jail.

Prosecutors charged Dinsmoor in Island County Superior Court with the commission of a hate crime. Under the definition, he is accused of making the threat “maliciously and intentionally and because of his perception of the sexual orientation” of the woman. Under the standard sentence range, he could have faced from three to nine months in jail if convicted of the charge.

Thompson filed a motion to dismiss and a motion in limine on March 17 of this year. He argued that Dinsmoor’s statement, “it used to be legal to kill gay people,” wasn’t a true threat because it conveyed no intention that he himself was going to injure anyone.

“The comment does not associate Mr. Dinsmoor with any act of violence against anyone,” Thompson wrote. “In fact, the words did not express that he intended to do anything. The comment was passive and impersonal. It lacked detail and specificity.”

Thompson wrote that Dinsmoor’s posts on Gab.com are not the “context in which the words are uttered” because the comments were not directed at the woman, and she did not know about them until later.

Deputy Prosecutor Michael Safstrom, on the other hand, argued in a reply to Thompson’s motion that context was everything in the case. He wrote that Dinsmoor wasn’t charged solely based on his statement to the woman but in the context of his escalating online posts and conduct “from passive abstraction to a more detailed plan.”

“In other words,” Safstrom wrote, “the Defendant was not engaging in political hyperbole or political argument — he was describing what he perceived as an imminent need to kill homosexuals, his means and ability to do so, and he was intentionally implying that he planned to do exactly this on June 18, 2022 in Anacortes when he posted ‘talk me out of it.’ The Defendant was rationalizing and threatening the murder of his neighbors.”

In the end, the judge found the defense argument to be persuasive.

Island County Prosecutor Greg Banks said the office is considering the ruling.