Roblox User’s Virtual Threats Deserve Jury Trial, Court Says

Threatening statements made by an 18-year-old high school senior on the video game Roblox deserve a trial in front of a jury to determine whether they are protected by the First Amendment, a panel of Fifth Circuit judges ruled Thursday.

“Indeed, speaking on Roblox, or similar platform, does not categorically immunize someone from the criminal code,” the opinion said.

The importance of the fact that the statements were made on Roblox is in dispute, the Fifth Circuit found, and that question should be resolved by a jury.

The appeals court reversed a decision by US District Judge Alan Albright in Austin, who dismissed the case and ordered the man released, finding that the statements made by James Burger were in the context of the game and didn’t present a “true threat” that would have removed the First Amendment’s shield.

The US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit remanded the case back to the district court. However, it declined the government’s request to reassign the case to another judge.

Noting that the request for reassignment is a “high hurdle,” the per curiam opinion quoted Liteky v. United States, saying, “’expressions of impatience, dissatisfaction, annoyance, and even anger’ are ‘within the bounds of what imperfect men and women, even after having been confirmed as federal judges, sometimes display.’”

The case stems from statements made by Burger on Roblox beginning in January 2025 when his avatar began to appear in a Roblox “church experience.” There, in a virtual room with a pulpit and pews, avatars of skinheads argued about race, Nazi S.S. officers denied the Holocaust, and others took sometimes offensive or extreme positions, according to the opinion.

In the virtual room, Burger’s avatar talked about owning guns and attacking Christians at a music festival. The government alleged that his statements aligned with a Christian concert that was scheduled for April in Austin, Texas.

Several users reported the statements to the FBI and Burger was indicted by a grand jury.

The Fifth Circuit panel included Chief Judge Jennifer Walker Elrod, as well as Judges Cory Wilson and Jerry Smith.

The case USA v. Burger, 5th Cir., No. 25-50976, Opinion 3/19/26.