|
 Shannon Guess Richardson, 36, whose career included minor
television roles in shows such as "The Walking Dead," also will
be subject to five years of supervised release and restitution
of $367,000.
Richardson, shackled and dressed in the brown uniform of an
inmate, apologized in a federal court in Texarkana, Texas, to
Obama, Bloomberg and Mark Glaze, the director of Mayors Against
Illegal Guns, a group founded by Bloomberg that lobbies for
stricter gun laws.
"I never intended to hurt anyone," she said.
A lawyer for Richardson and U.S. prosecutors reached a plea deal
in December for the 18-year sentence. Richardson, who could have
faced life in prison, said she took the deal because she did not
want to be "listed as a terrorist."
"I wouldn't go down that road," she said in court.
Richardson tried to blame her husband for the letters that were
sent in May of last year, according to prosecutors.
The letters read, in part: "You will have to kill me and my
family before you get my guns. Anyone wants to come to my house
will get shot in the face," according to court documents.
In a court document signed by Richardson, she outlined how she
extracted the toxin with materials she bought with her husband's
credit card. Richardson was arrested in June 2013 and a federal
grand jury accused her in a three-count indictment of mailing
the letters to Obama, Bloomberg and Glaze.
[to top of second column] |
Ricin, a highly toxic substance, is found naturally in castor beans,
but it takes a deliberate act to manufacture it and use it to poison
people, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention.
Exposure to even a small amount of ricin can cause death and no
known antidote exists.
One mail clerk suffered minor injuries from the letters Richardson
sent.
“Today's sentencing brings an appropriate and just end to what is
surely one of our most unusual, even bizarre cases," U.S. Attorney
John Malcolm Bales said.
(Reporting by Lisa Bose McDermott; Writing by Jon Herskovitz;
Editing by Bill Trott and Eric Beech)
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