Threatening calls he made to a doctor at the National LGBTQIA + Health Education Center in the Fenway Institute in August 2022 were one count of interstate transmission of threatening communication for death, and the Comfort, Texas man admitted guilt to it today.
Matthew Jordan Lindner, 39, could receive up to five years in jail if he is sentenced to prison on February 6. The US Attorney’s office will suggest a three-month word and$ 2, 986 in restitution under pleading agreements. But, US District Court Judge William Young is free to disregard the suggestion.
According to the plea, his attorneys wo n’t have the opportunity to persuade a federal jury that it is protected speech under the First Amendment and not” true threat” to say she is “going to burn” and” there are people on the way” in order to deal with her.
According to the prosecution, Lindner ended up reading electronically about false accusations that Children’s Clinics was performing sex-change procedures on kids. The day after Son’s Hospital and a portion of the Longwood Medical Area were closed due to an alleged hoax bomb danger, he located the brand and involvement of an Fenway Institute physician, dialed the number for the facility, and left this voicemail:
You tired fuckers are all going to burn, I assure you. A group of people is en route to deal with Victim 1. Lady, you signed your individual permit. destroying our kids. You’ve awakened much individuals. And enough of us are unhappy. You also signed your individual seat. You fuckin’ cock, sleeping well.
According to the prosecution, he even called the doctor’s past discipline and a Rhode Island university where she teaches to keep similar messages.
Lindner’s prosecutors initially filed two movements to dismiss the case, one arguing that they did not believe the visit to the Fenway actually reached the level of “recklessness” necessary to demonstrate he was making” true risks” rather than merely making a political declaration on an controversial issue, and the other more specifically, claiming that the First Amendment protected him:
According to the defence investigation, more than 30,000 people saw the same fake news media reports that claimed the doctor Lindner left his phone message for was castrating kids. Additionally, it appears that more than 3, 000 of those people posted disparaging remarks on social media. However, none of those people have faced legal action for expressing their condemnation and exercising their right to free speech in the same circumstance.
Defending attorneys argued:
Here, Lindner made the decision to use threats to stop Victim 1 from providing the health services that many parents seek on behalf of their children in response to social media discourse and standard media coverage regarding the presence of gender-affirming care for young people in the trans community. Lindner chose to look for Victim 1, a doctor who worked thousands of miles away and whom he had never met, after reading information on social media and media articles. Lindner located Victim 1’s phone number at the Center based on his opposition to the type of health treatment that target 1 offers. Victim 1 and the others were” all gonna burn,” he said in an private voice to the Center. The ominous warning that” [t ] here’s a group of people on their way to handle” Victim 1 was added by Lindner as he continued, alluding to an apparent anonymous group that intended to travel to harm Victri 1. Victim 1 was informed by Lindner that she had” signed” her own warrant, or “ticket,” as he continued. And he ended by urging Victim 1 to” sleep well” in an evidently sincere manner, followed by an offensive insult. These claims fall directly under the category of communications that, in the eyes of a fair judge, would be considered to be genuine risks.
Young scheduled a hearing on one of the termination motions for now. However, the two sides informed him last week that they had come to a possible plea deal, so he changed the topic of today’s reading to that.
Lindner is the next transphobe to admit to committing legal harassment in connection with a wave of abuse that targeted Boston specialists in August. In September, Catherine Leavy of Westfield admitted to making the call that closed Children’s Medical the day before Lindner made his calling.
She is expected to be sentenced on March 19 on charges of making a fake bomb risk and purposefully spreading false or misleading information about the impending weapon.
