Cal Pen Code § 422 (2004)
§ 422. Punishment for threats
Any person who willfully threatens to commit a crime which will
result in death or great bodily injury to another person, with the specific
intent that the statement, made verbally, in writing, or by means of an
electronic communication device, is to be taken as a threat, even if there is
no intent of actually carrying it out, which, on its face and under the
circumstances in which it is made, is so unequivocal, unconditional, immediate,
and specific as to convey to the person threatened, a gravity of purpose and an
immediate prospect of execution of the threat, and thereby causes that person
reasonably to be in sustained fear for his or her own safety or for his or her
immediate family's safety, shall be punished by imprisonment in the county jail
not to exceed one year, or by imprisonment in the state prison.
For the purposes of this section, "immediate
family" means any spouse, whether by marriage or not, parent, child, any
person related by consanguinity or affinity within the second degree, or any
other person who regularly resides in the household, or who, within the prior
six months, regularly resided in the household.
"Electronic communication device" includes, but is
not limited to, telephones, cellular telephones, computers, video recorders,
fax machines, or pagers. "Electronic communication" has the same
meaning as the term defined in Subsection 12 of Section 2510 of Title 18 of the
United States Code.