Terror Charges?

Not sure I get the terror charge. They added that to the first charge of a hate crime. Does it have to do with him wanting to kill black men, not a specific black man - even though he turned himself in after killing the one?  I didn't know that he turned himself in.  Seems like that would have some bearing on the charge.

Or was it the fact that he said he went to New York so it would get more media attention than in Baltimore? He also apparently told police his original plan was to kill someone in D.C.

James Harris Jackson, 28, spoke with a reporter for the Daily News at New York City's Rikers Island jail complex.

He said he envisioned a white woman thinking: "Well, if that guy feels so strongly about it, maybe I shouldn't do it."

[...]

In the interview, [saying he didn't know his victim was elderly] Jackson said in retrospect, he would rather have killed "a young thug" or "a successful older black man with blondes ... people you see in Midtown. These younger guys that put white girls on the wrong path."

[...]

"The white race is being eroded. ... No one cares about you. The Chinese don't care about you, the blacks don't care about you," he said.

  Time

Seems a little far afield from terrorism. Seems like insanity.

Jackson, who was raised in what was described as a churchgoing, liberal family in a Baltimore suburb, said his ideal society is "1950s America."

Make America Great Again.

Perhaps there's more he told the police that they didn't reveal to the public about his motives.

Jackson, 28, faces a sentence of mandatory life in prison without parole if prosecutors are able to convince jurors that he murdered Caughman as an act of terrorism — with intent to coerce a civilian population, influence government policy through coercion and affect the conduct of a unit of government.

He would face a minimum of 20 years to life if convicted of murder as a hate crime without that enhancement, the district attorney’s office said, and was also charged with three misdemeanor counts of criminal possession of a weapon.

[...]

“James Jackson prowled the streets of New York for three days in search of a black person to assassinate in order to launch a campaign of terrorism against our Manhattan community and the values we celebrate,” Vance said.

  Newsday

Intent to influence government policy seems closer to a terrorism charge.  What "unit of government" are they talking about?

Or maybe the intent to kill blacks is now going to be seen as terrorism. I'm not arguing it shouldm't be. Just wondering if this is going to change all hate crime charges.

I'm sure this will get lots of discussion, and we'll see how the charges stick when he's tried.

White House spokesman Sean Spicer sidestepped questions Monday over the murder of Timothy Caughman, using questions over the heinous slaying to defend people on “the right” he said were blamed too quickly for a recent wave of anti-Semitic threats.

Just hours before James Jackson was charged with murder as an act of terrorism for fatally stabbing Caughman in Midtown, Spicer was asked during his daily press briefing Monday to condemn the race-driven attack and speak about the rise of hate crimes that has beset the nation in recent months.

[...]

Instead, Spicer dodged and weaved, claiming that President Trump “wanted to unite the country,” citing the commander-in-chief’s recent sitdown with the Congressional Black Caucus, and stating broadly that “hate crimes and anti-Semitic crimes of any nature should be called out.”

[...]

He then launched into a diatribe against the media for “immediately jumping” on “people on the right” regarding a wave of bomb threats against Jewish community centers.

  NY Daily News

Why, no, this administration is not racist, why do you ask?