Being a church-going old lady doesn't mean you get a pass for pushing a Muslim tenant down the stairs, court rules

The Supreme Judicial Court today upheld the six-month jail sentence of a Christian landlord who pushed a Muslim tenant down the stairs of her Somerville triple decker after harassing the tenant and her children for weeks about their faith.

Daisy Obi, at the time a pastor of a local church, argued the six-month sentence - actually two years but with 18 months suspended - was cruel and unusual punishment given that she was 71 at the time, had never been in trouble with the law before and besides, the tenant's injuries were "relatively minor." She also objected to a judge's requirement she tell prospective tenants she had been convicted of attacking one tenant and served harassment orders by others and that she attend an introductory class on Islam.

Sorry, but nope, the state's highest court said. The Somerville District Court judge who sentenced her was acting appropriately when he decided she had to spend some time in jail "so that you can reflect on what you have done and what you will be doing in the future, that this shall never happen again:"

During the sentencing hearing, [the tenant] explained that the defendant's assault and battery has had a "deep physical impact" on her, that she has been unable to sleep at night, and that she does not trust people in the same way she did before the incident. She added that her children are now afraid of going outside, and that her six year old son had started wetting his bed. ... The sentence was within the maximum permitted by statute. See G. L. c. 265, § 13A (authorizing sentence of up to two and one-half years in house of correction for conviction of assault and battery). Simply put, the defendant's sentence does not "shock[] the conscience and offend[] fundamental notions of human dignity."

The court continued that notifying tenants of her tenant-related record did not violate her rights because the judge's ruling did not prohibit her from speaking about her record - and that any rent she might lose from tenants thinking twice was more than balanced by protecting public safety.

The court tossed her argument that the First Amendment protects her from having to learn about Islam, because her lawyer only raised it for the first time in the appeal, not before the initial judge.

This is not the first time a Massachusetts court has dealt with the issue of violence and religion. In 2011, the Massachusetts Appeals Court upheld a man's conviction for pushing two Jehovah's Witnesses who had rung his doorbell.