Texas Woman Charged with Threatening Judge Chutkan
Published by The Lawfare Institute
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On Aug. 11, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas unsealed a criminal complaint charging Abigail Jo Shry with one count of violating 18 U.S.C. § 875(c) (transmission in interstate or foreign commerce of any communication containing a threat to injure the person of another). The complaint alleges that Shry left a voicemail for Judge Chutkan in which she made threats against the judge’s life.
At 7:51 p.m. on Aug. 5, Shry allegedly called Chuktan’s chambers and left a voicemail using a phone number that was traced back to her in Alvin, Texas. In the message, Shry used racial slurs against Chutkan and threatened to kill “anyone who went after former President Trump, including a direct threat to kill Congresswomen Sheila Jackson Lee, all democrats in Washington D.C., and all people in the LBGTQ community,” according to the criminal complaint. In an affidavit supporting the complaint, Shry later denied any plans to travel to Washington, D.C. or Houston to act on her threats but added that, if Sheila Jackson Lee came to Alvin, “then we need to worry.”
Read the criminal complaint here or below:
