Slate Magazine recognizes Professor Robert Weisberg for providing information pertaining to the penalties in the United States for shoe-throwing referring to the recent incident in which shoes were thrown at President Bush in Iraq:

Title 18, Section 112 of the U.S. Code offers special
protection for “foreign officials, official guests, and internationally
protected persons.” Whoever “assaults, strikes, wounds, imprisons, or offers
violence” against one of these people can be fined, imprisoned for up to three
years, or both. “Assault” under common law covers not only the attempt to
inflict harm but also placing someone under the reasonable apprehension of harm,
so shoe-throwing might count. If a lenient jury decided that throwing a shoe
(and missing) didn’t quite rise to the level of assault, they might find the
perpetrator guilty of coercing or harassing a foreign official or obstructing
the official in the performance of his duties. These lesser offenses carry a
sentence of not more than six months in prison or a fine.

Tossing Nikes or Bruno Maglis or Model 271s at the U.S. president, vice
president, or president-elect on American soil is an even riskier proposition.
If a jury were to treat the action as an assault, the perp could get up to 10
years. If the attack were deemed a mere “threat,” then he’d face up to five
years.

Of course, there’s a chance that the hypothetical flingers mentioned above
would face no charges at all. That’s up to federal prosecutors, since
assaulting, harassing, or threatening either the president or a foreign
dignitary is covered by federal law. Naturally, a Secret Service agent or
another law-enforcement official would apprehend the attacker, but the case
might be considered too frivolous to prosecute. If a U.S. attorney declined to
take on such a case, the president or foreign dignitary could, like any private
citizen, bring a civil suit against the shoe-flinger. In this case, the
defendant would probably risk paying a fine and getting probation.

Read More