United States v. Wright-Darrisaw

Wright-Darrisaw called the White House Comments Line and, after statements characterized as “foul,” and “irrational,” stated “I’m going to f**k and kill Obama.” A telephone operator transferred her to the Secret Service. The call was not recorded. The Secret Service subpoenaed phone records and determined that Wright-Darrisaw had called the White House Comments Line several times. Wright-Darrisaw admitted to calling to voice her displeasure with child custody laws, but denied making any threats. Wright-Darrisaw was convicted of threatening to kill the President, 18 U.S.C. 871(a), and of making a false statement, 18 U.S.C. 1001(a)(2),and was sentenced to 33 months in prison. The district court declined to apply a four-level decrease in the offense level under U.S.S.G. 2A6.1(b)(6), finding that the threat involved deliberation, and applied a three-level increase under U.S.S.G. 3A1.2(a) because Wright-Darrisaw was motivated by the victim’s status as a government official. The Second Circuit deferred consideration of the sufficiency of the evidence that the communication constituted a “true threat,” pending the Supreme Court’s decision in United States v. Elonis, but remanded for reconsideration of the sentence in light of a Second Circuit holding that “deliberation” under U.S.S.G. 2A6.1(b)(6) is deliberation related to the communication of the threat itself. View "United States v. Wright-Darrisaw" on Justia Law