Tuesday, March 03, 2020

What's the appropriate sentence for a 22-year old austic man who stalked and taunted the families of the Parkland victims?

This is a tough one.

The sentencing guidelines were 57-71 months.  The statutory maximum for each of the 4 counts of conviction was 5 years (60 months).  The defense asked for a downward variance and a residential program to address his mental issues.  The prosecutor asked for an upward variance to 20 years! (The stat max for each count stacked on top of each other). Of course we all feel for the victims, but 20 years is more than many rapists, murderers, and terrorists get.

After a lengthy sentencing, Judge Ruiz issued a guideline sentence of 66 months.

A summary from the New York Times:
A 22-year-old California man was sentenced to 66 months in federal prison on Monday after cyberstalking and threatening to kidnap relatives of those killed in the 2018 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., federal prosecutors said.

The man, Brandon Michael Fleury, impersonated the confessed gunman on social media for three weeks to threaten and taunt survivors of the shooting and victims’ loved ones. He was found guilty in October of three counts of cyberstalking and one count of transmitting a kidnapping threat.

Sabrina Puglisi, Mr. Fleury’s lawyer, said she was disappointed that the judge did not place Mr. Fleury in a residential treatment program, given that he has autism spectrum disorder. However, she said, she was pleased the judge’s sentence was much lower than the maximum 20 years that Mr. Fleury had faced.

“The judge made a strong argument that this type of trolling behavior on the internet is not OK, not acceptable and it won’t stand,” Ms. Puglisi said in an interview on Monday. “He wanted to send a message to deter people from doing the same.”

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

Non-violent offender (remember, he didn't actually DO anything other than talk, and from a distance) with a mental disorder (assuming the autism thing isn't defense lawyer BS). Zero prison. Phsyc eval, probably long term hospitalization, and maybe lifelong required treatment as condition of release (last I checked, autism has no cure. So, if his conduct was tied to his autistic condition, its a lifelong sentence of court supervised treatment).

Remove the autism issue, maybe one year behind bars and long term probation conditioned on anger management?

Anonymous said...

How is this even a criminal case? Did he violate a restraining order first?

People can block others on social media. He was obviously a fake/parody account.

Youtube still has Newtown conspiracy videos up under freedom of speech. Not to mention the 9/11..

Was this guy even competent?

Anonymous said...

If it was up to me Id give him a year. Id have given roger stone the same. One year is a long time. Id freak out spending a weekend at club fed.

Anonymous said...

To clarify is the guy a "person of color"? I need to know before i decide if it is appropriate to care about this case...

Anonymous said...

Autistic*

Anonymous said...

7:18
White privilege much?

Anonymous said...

7:18
I get it. See, our criminal justice system blatantly treats people of color much more harshly than whites. People of color get arrested at substantially higher rates for crimes such as driving while black/latino or just being in neighborhoods or places where they "don't belong" or even where they do belong, but somehow make white people uneasy. They get prosecuted at unwarranted higher rates. They get denied reasonable bond more often than whites. They have a disproportionately higher rate of conviction and incarceration. Prosecutors still systematically cull juries to have as few people of color on a jury especially when prosecuting people of color. And they get sentenced to higher sentence for similar offenses. This injustice continues everyday day because like you do not care and do want anyone else to care. You are hilarious! So clever.

Anonymous said...

Uh - I think 7:18 was being sarcastic and making the exact same point as you and the prior commentor - trigger much?

I wish you would stop talking about how "white people" feel or think. I get that the system is unfair, at least 1/2 of the people who read this blog fight it everyday. But really, stop placing me into a group that you despise because I am white. All you and your a-hole friends are accomplishing is alienating a huge group of people (white, male, liberal, democrats) who enthusiastically vote for the best candidates regardless of race (Obama).

Anonymous said...

9:09 and 9:34 - I think you both misunderstood.

7:18 is being sarcastic and facetious.

Anonymous said...

Ruiz has been -- BY FAR -- the worst sentencer of the new judges. typically gives guidelines. Prosecutors have gotten the message to ask for middle or high end (or even upward variances) to manipulate him into giving guidelines. The other new judges are typically giving downward variances in line with other judges in the district. Even tough judges like Ruiz' mentor Moreno gives downward variances. But not Ruiz. SAD!

Anonymous said...

That's Not Hot.

Anonymous said...

Gosh I actually wasn't being sarcastic. And I agree with 934 entirely...not sure why he is so mad at me. For example, i agree any "disproportionately higher rate of conviction and incarceration" for any racial group is due to systemic racism. I read white men are WAY more likely to be prosecuted than nonwhites for possession of c.p. The only solution to this "racial imbalance" is to drop charges on some of the whites until the nonwhites catch up statistically (at least within say 5% of the whites). That way it will be fair. If I was attorney general, I'd have a statistician! Regrettably the most recent AGs (Sessions, Barr, Lynch, and definitely Holder) were blatant racists who dont see things as clearly as me and 934.

Anonymous said...

poor white males, always having to play the victim card

Daryl Wilcox said...

I tried the case. We filed a motion to dismiss on First Amendment Grounds. Obviously, it was denied. Young Brandon Fleury is Caucasian and he is autistic. It was a tough case.