--- title: White House Fence Jumper Tried to 'Deliver Message' description: According to lawyer Stephan Seeger canonical: https://time.com/4128776/white-house-fence-jumper-message/ author: NBC News article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-11-29T23:08:54.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T12:56:50.994Z article:section: Politics og:title: White House Fence Jumper Tried to 'Deliver Message' og:description: According to lawyer Stephan Seeger og:url: https://time.com/4128776/white-house-fence-jumper-message/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta0f1ff8ea8b1c767/698872fa0b72e3bc366e7040/white-house-fence-jumper.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: APTOPIX White House Fence Jumper og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: White House Fence Jumper Tried to 'Deliver Message' twitter:description: According to lawyer Stephan Seeger twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta0f1ff8ea8b1c767/698872fa0b72e3bc366e7040/white-house-fence-jumper.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # White House Fence Jumper Wanted to 'Deliver Message' by [NBC News](https://time.com/author/nbc-news/) ## NBC News Nov 29, 2015 11:08 PM UTC  A man jumps a fence at the White House in Washington on Nov. 26, 2015. A man jumps a fence at the White House in Washington on Nov. 26, 2015.Vanessa Pena—AP by [NBC News](https://time.com/author/nbc-news/) ## NBC News Nov 29, 2015 11:08 PM UTC A lawyer for Joseph Caputo, the flag-draped 23-year-old [accused of scaling a White House fence](http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/white-house-lockdown-after-man-draped-american-flag-jumps-fence-n470111) on Thanksgiving, told NBC News Sunday that his client was a “politically-conscious young man” who was simply trying to “deliver a message.” It was a message, said the lawyer, Stephan Seeger, that “addresses the issues of education, the judiciary, the legal system. It’s a writing I suspect was earmarked for the government to see.” Court documents have stated that Caputo [left a suicide note](http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/alleged-white-house-fence-jumper-left-suicide-note-n470491), though Seeger said that “couldn’t be further from the truth.” Caputo’s words, he said, had been mischaracterized. [Read more from our partners at NBC News](http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/white-house-fence-jumper-was-trying-deliver-message-lawyer-n470951?cid=par-time%5F20151129) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4128776/white-house-fence-jumper-message/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4128776/white-house-fence-jumper-message/"},"headline":"White House Fence Jumper Wanted to 'Deliver Message'","datePublished":"2015-11-29T23:08:54.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T12:56:50.994Z","description":"Lawyer denies Joseph Caputo left a suicide note","url":"https://time.com/4128776/white-house-fence-jumper-message/","keywords":["White House"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta0f1ff8ea8b1c767/698872fa0b72e3bc366e7040/white-house-fence-jumper.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"NBC News","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/nbc-news/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta0f1ff8ea8b1c767/698872fa0b72e3bc366e7040/white-house-fence-jumper.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"APTOPIX White House Fence Jumper","caption":"In this photo provided by Vanessa Pena, a man jumps a fence at the White House on Thursday, Nov. 26, 2015, in Washington. The man was immediately apprehended and taken into custody pending criminal charges, the Secret Service said. President Barack Obama","creditText":"Vanessa Pena—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4128776/white-house-fence-jumper-message/","name":"White House Fence Jumper Wanted to 'Deliver Message'"}}]}] ```