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Prosecutors recommend 30 days for woman who called in bomb threat to Children's Hospital; say her remorse is 'genuine and heartfelt,' but she still needs to pay a price

Update: Sentencing rescheduled for July 18.

A western-Massachusetts woman whose transphobic bomb threat forced the lock down of Children's Hospital and part of the Longwood Medical Area has expressed sincere regret and participated in a "restorative justice" program but should still be imprisoned for 30 days and then spend six months in home confinement, in part as a message to other would be threat makers, a federal prosecutor recommended yesterday.

Catherine Leavy of Westfield is scheduled for sentencing on Friday. As part of the process, both a prosecutor from the US Attorney's office in Boston and her attorney have made sentencing recommendations for US District Court Judge Leo Sorokin. Sorokin granted a request from Leavy's attorney that details on her history be kept private because it contains specific medical and psychiatric information.

Leavy pleaded guilty in September to charges she called in what turned out to be a hoax bomb threat to Children's Hospital on Aug. 30, 2022, under the influence of online ranters falsely claiming the hospital was mutilating children.

In his recommendation, assistant US Attorney Jared Dolan first described what Leavy admitted to doing:

The defendant's short call to BCH established her (1) criminal conduct, (2) goal, and (3) motivation, all in a single sentence. By stating that there was a bomb on the way to the hospital, the defendant made a threat that was both immediate and significant to the patients and staff of the facility. By stating that the hospital should evacuate everybody, the defendant indicated that she intended to provoke a response and interrupt the care that was being provided at BCH. And by referring to the targets of her threat as "sickos," the defendant communicated that the call was directly related to the care being provided by BCH as reflected in news coverage. Instead of attempting to register disagreement with the (perceived) policy of a private medical institution through peaceful means, the defendant threatened to blow up the hospital. Her actions terrorized staff and traumatized children who should have been focused on healing from their injuries. She willfully interrupted the care that was being performed at the hospital to suit her own ends.

Dolan continued, however, that context is important and that Leavy suffers from "personal medical issues that diminish the defendant’s culpability," although he declined to specify them out of respect for her privacy. Also, he wrote, "the defendant’s acceptance of responsibility and participation in a restorative justice program is laudatory" and that if the only issue were protecting the public from this one person, he would not recommend any prison time.

But, he continued, the broader context of what was happening then and continues to happen is also important:

The sentence imposed must send a message to the community that making bomb threats is a serious crime and cannot be wiped away with an apology (no matter how heartfelt). The Court must also account for general deterrence in fashioning a sentence. Even if the defendant is a low risk for recidivism, the conduct she committed is all too likely to reoccur. ... A sentence that does not result in a term of imprisonment, in light of the aggravating facts of this criminal conduct, sends the wrong message to society by minimizing the personal risk in making anonymous threats as part of a public dialogue.

He noted that Matthew Lindner, a Texan who also expressed remorse about calling a doctor at Fenway Health who worked with transgender youth to threaten her with death got three months in prison after he was sentenced for making that call - one day after Leavy made hers.

AttachmentSize
PDF icon Government sentencing memorandum114.77 KB


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Comments

Sounds like her defense is that she isn't a whole person.

We may need to make the internet a privilege, not one we have to earn, but one that can be taken away.

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There is no single fine line between having hateful thoughts, then spewing those thoughts by mouth in public, then acting out those thoughts by using one or more of the many ways to kill. Don't delete the lines. Shred the whole damn book instead. No sympathy for her.

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If she were Muslim she would be languishing in federal prison for terrorism but because she is a right wing white lady she gets restorative justice.

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She needs to learn a hard truth that this sort of anti social behavior helps no one.

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She would be locked up for 10 years.

Don't let the Trumpies off when they act out with their puerility.

Families and medical personnel were severely messed up with these threats.

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Wrong call. This pathetic excuse for a human hasn’t learned anything. Lock her up.

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For phoning in a bomb threat to the Special Olympics, man!

We were talking not 24 hours ago in another thread about how The Boondocks is not a documentary. Apparently, Chappelle's Show is.

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30 days and 6 months probation for terrorist activity is a slap on the wrist. That scumbag should get 30 YEARS in prison.

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her remorse is 'genuine and heartfelt,

Those prosecutors need to be immediately relieved of their duties.

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I've got a feeling that this lapse in judgment will come back to haunt them.

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What about the next time?

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Like her medical and psychiatric history, which was filed under seal.

From my limited experience (i.e., I'm incredibly parochial and mostly only cover Boston courts), federal prosecutors are not usually willing to go easy in their sentencing recommendations, so there must be something pretty significant in those records to warrant a sentencing recommendation that includes what sounds like compassion.

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I see these cases more akin to crimes committed by narcotic addicts. They basically become brainwashed by these online communities of hate and conspiracies.

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I don't disagree, but I think if that were the only factor, the prosecutor would still be searching for books to throw at her

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I find her crime odious and I'm sick of right wing terrorists getting a pass. But when a federal prosecutor says that there are mitigating circumstances and that she's very unlikely to reoffend, I think there's something to it. The prosecutor also pointed out that at least some jail time was required to provide a deterrent -- as they said, she isn't going to try it again, but somebody is. So that's my only qualm, really: is this enough of a deterrent?

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She is very LIKELY to reoffend. Once a terrorist, always a terrorist. This lenient sentence is pathetic with a $.

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That certainly is an assertion.

Without evidence, mind you. But it is an assertion.

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