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Woman Pleads Not Guilty In Sandy Hook Parent Death Threat

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Dalek

Member
Woman Pleads Not Guilty In Sandy Hook Parent Death Threat

A Brandon woman accused of threatening the parent of a boy killed in the Sandy Hook school shooting because she thought it was a hoax pleaded not guilty Monday and was barred from visiting websites that promote such false conspiracy theories.

Lucy Richards, 57, entered her plea in Fort Lauderdale federal court after a public defender was appointed to represent her. The lawyer, Michael Spivack, declined to comment after the hearing.

Richards was arrested Dec. 7 in Tampa on four felony counts of transmitting threats to Lenny Pozner, father of 6-year-old Noah Pozner who died in the 2012 mass shooting in Newtown, Connecticut. Richards lives in Brandon, near Tampa, but threats were received by Pozner in Palm Beach County, according to court records.

Each charge carries a maximum five-year prison sentence.

Richards, who is free on $25,000 bail, entered the courtroom wearing furry slippers and using an aluminum walker. She told U.S. Magistrate Judge Barry Seltzer she is on disability and has not worked in more than a decade when she was a waitress. She spoke softly in answering the judge's questions, telling him she is not married and has no children, and that she had only been arrested once before for stealing two sandwiches from a grocery store.

Others linked to the Sandy Hook massacre have reported harassment by conspiracy theorists who argue the event was staged to erode support for Second Amendment gun rights. Richards, however, said she owns no weapons.

"I've never touched or owned a gun," she said.

The four threats were made Jan. 10, according to authorities, and included messages that said, "you gonna die, death is coming to you real soon," and "LOOK BEHIND YOU IT IS DEATH."

Another threat said, "there's nothing you can do about it," according to court documents.


Federal prosecutors successfully got Richards prohibited from visiting conspiracy theory websites because she told investigators after her arrest that she had been viewing one when she sent the messages to Pozner, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Karen Gilbert.

"That's what she got angry over, which led to the conduct in this case," Gilbert said. "It's these specifically I'm looking to restrict. I'm not looking for general news websites."

Seltzer also ordered Richards to have no contact with Pozner or anyone else connected to the Sandy Hook killings.

Pozner has publicly sought to debunk conspiracy theories that claim Sandy Hook and other mass slayings were staged by the government as part of an anti-gun agenda.

In an interview last week with The Associated Press, Pozner said ignoring the deluge of hoaxes posted online about his son's death over the last four years is impossible and only emboldens people to threaten him.

"This is such an antiquated concept — 'don't feed the trolls,'" Pozner said. "All the people that have said that and ignored it all are responsible for this problem festering and becoming even worse."
 

Haly

One day I realized that sadness is just another word for not enough coffee.
was barred from visiting websites that promote such false conspiracy theories
Can we.... can we bar everyone in the nation from visiting these website?

Please?
 
This Sandy Hook conspiracy bullshit makes me so angry I can't even form coherent thoughts to properly express how upsetting it is.

It is unspeakably cruel to treat parents who have lost a child in such a horrific event in this way. It is subhuman.
 

see5harp

Member
Let me guess, this person has been on SS disability for 10 years and is someone who complains about welfare recipients.
 

Ephidel

Member
Richards was arrested Dec. 7 in Tampa on four felony counts of transmitting threats to Lenny Pozner
Federal prosecutors successfully got Richards prohibited from visiting conspiracy theory websites because she told investigators after her arrest that she had been viewing one when she sent the messages to Pozner, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Karen Gilbert.
pleaded not guilty
I mean, sure, that plea makes complete sense.
 

Stumpokapow

listen to the mad man
That woman can get fucked. How in the hell are there Sandy Hook deniers?

In this case it seems like a pretty clear story: a disabled person with no family, no future prospects, and no money sits at home all day refreshing the internet searching for meaning in a world that holds none for her and was seduced by people who provide "answers", even though they're nonsense, who in turn make it worse by encouraging her to disconnect from the world and the things in the world designed to anchor her to reality.
 
I'm sure this is a common sentiment but if I were a Sandy Hook parent faced with a denier, I would legitimately not be able to hold myself back from fucking their entire universe up.
 
These are the types of numpties that Alex Jones et al. hook, inconsequential nobodies, with shitty inconsequential lives who want to be part of something 'bigger than themselves' and who have the inside scoop that the Sheeple refuse to acknowledge. Y'know, morons.
 
I feel like we're going to need two Earths soon so the fake news people can go exist in their own alternate reality and leave the rest of us alone.

Has the LHC gotten any closer to causing a tear in the space/time continuum yet?
 
This Sandy Hook conspiracy bullshit makes me so angry I can't even form coherent thoughts to properly express how upsetting it is.

It is unspeakably cruel to treat parents who have lost a child in such a horrific event in this way. It is subhuman.

Good post, and I totally agree. Fucking cunts dare to goad and criticise parents who've lost kids in tragedies like this. Utter bastards.
 
In this case it seems like a pretty clear story: a disabled person with no family, no future prospects, and no money sits at home all day refreshing the internet searching for meaning in a world that holds none for her and was seduced by people who provide "answers", even though they're nonsense, who in turn make it worse by encouraging her to disconnect from the world and the things in the world designed to anchor her to reality.

Pretty astute. It's mostly what happens to all sorts of people, and I feel like it's behind a lot of the fake news adherents, people who vote just to stick it to the 'libruls,' and so on.
 

LakeEarth

Member
I don't think I'll ever understand what goes on in the heads of Sandy Hook deniers.

A lot of conspiracy theories seem to gloss over the whole "why?" part. I've heard some people say it was to increase gun control, but it didn't. It got the conversation going a bit, but nothing more (unfortunately).
 

Gouty

Bloodborne is shit
A lot of conspiracy theories seem to gloss over the whole "why?" part. I've heard some people say it was to increase gun control, but it didn't. It got the conversation going a bit, but nothing more (unfortunately).

Lets do the very thing (kill people) that we want gun control to prevent!
 

Akuun

Looking for meaning in GAF
That woman can get fucked. How in the hell are there Sandy Hook deniers?
Well, there was a guy in the ambassador assassination thread earlier this week who was suggesting that the whole thing was staged.

It's shit like that that causes things like this. People constantly going full armchair expert and saying "this is fake" to everything.

I'm glad the lady got arrested for sending death threats. If only more people got arrested for sending these messages over the internet, especially now that it's becoming standard practice for some shithead groups out there.

This shit needs to be shut down, hard.
 
A lot of conspiracy theories seem to gloss over the whole "why?" part. I've heard some people say it was to increase gun control, but it didn't. It got the conversation going a bit, but nothing more (unfortunately).

They can justify anything. Applying logic is not going to get you anywhere.

"We were the bulwark against the False Flagging LIEbruls and their attempts at gun-grabbin'.

We stopped their nefarious plots by seeing through the ruse!"
 
In this case it seems like a pretty clear story: a disabled person with no family, no future prospects, and no money sits at home all day refreshing the internet searching for meaning in a world that holds none for her and was seduced by people who provide "answers", even though they're nonsense, who in turn make it worse by encouraging her to disconnect from the world and the things in the world designed to anchor her to reality.
It's almost kind of sad really. I'm not defending this lady or what she did, but bow sad does your life have to be for a conspiracy theory site to give your life meaning?

That said, enjoy your time in prison lady. Hopefully some minimum security joint, as she clearly doesn't belong in supermax or anything. But no matter how sad your life, you don't get to threaten other people and especially not after and about the death of their elementary school child.
 
In this case it seems like a pretty clear story: a disabled person with no family, no future prospects, and no money sits at home all day refreshing the internet searching for meaning in a world that holds none for her and was seduced by people who provide "answers", even though they're nonsense, who in turn make it worse by encouraging her to disconnect from the world and the things in the world designed to anchor her to reality.

If you change a few key things about this, and if the people providing answers is referencing NeoGAF, I could use this for my About Me section.


Regarding the trial, I sincerely hope psychological evaluation is ordered, even if only for determining competency. It might open up some paths toward some type of rehabilitation from whatever this existence is that she's made for herself.
 

Akuun

Looking for meaning in GAF
It's almost kind of sad really. I'm not defending this lady or what she did, but bow sad does your life have to be for a conspiracy theory site to give your life meaning?
It's pretty sad.

I also feel like a lot of these neo-nazi gamergater types who spend hours harassing people online are just pathetic little pieces of shit who never worked up the courage to ask out their crush in high school and/or got rejected, and end up hating the world because they can't come to terms with their own failures.
 
Lenny Pozner is an honorable human being. We need millions more just like him to step up to the plate and fight for the goodness in this world.
 

Samara

Member
To these people, no one ever dies. The world is full of actors and Youtube creators are full blown long distance CSI experts.

I get conspiracies about aliens or whatever but these are people who have their loved ones. I can't even wrap my head around it.
 
honest question.

who is at fault here?

the woman is an adult and is clearly responsible for her actions. right?

but like, these websites. this "bubble" SO MANY americans are in, especially considering the election we just had, dont they bare some responsibility here? isnt there defamation laws that directly apply to this case? like this woman is pleading not guilty. she believes, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that sandy hook was a lie and that this parent is a liar. to us, thats fucking BANANAS. but to her, its reality. like we look at this woman and even in this thread i see people getting actually, physically frustrated at her believing this.

and thats how she feels about us.

the pizza gate guy was the exact same. he really believed he was doing good. he threatened a bunch of innocent employees with a gun....but he believed he was saving children. like if i murder someone because i believe they are a spaghetti monster threatening the world, im not guilty for reasons of insanity right? well these people REALLY believe the news they are reading.

i guess im just trying to find the line? when does it stop becoming the average adults responsibility to educate themselves (never is an acceptable answer) and start becoming media's responsibility to report accurately?
 

Arkeband

Banned
honest question.

who is at fault here?

the woman is an adult and is clearly responsible for her actions. right?

but like, these websites. this "bubble" SO MANY americans are in, especially considering the election we just had, dont they bare some responsibility here? isnt there defamation laws that directly apply to this case? like this woman is pleading not guilty. she believes, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that sandy hook was a lie and that this parent is a liar. to us, thats fucking BANANAS. but to her, its reality. like we look at this woman and even in this thread i see people getting actually, physically frustrated at her believing this.

and thats how she feels about us.

the pizza gate guy was the exact same. he really believed he was doing good. he threatened a bunch of innocent employees with a gun....but he believed he was saving children. like if i murder someone because i believe they are a spaghetti monster threatening the world, im not guilty for reasons of insanity right? well these people REALLY believe the news they are reading.

i guess im just trying to find the line? when does it stop becoming the average adults responsibility to educate themselves (never is an acceptable answer) and start becoming media's responsibility to report accurately?

The line is when you make death threats? Vigilantism is against the law.

And it doesn't matter if people believe they're doing the right thing, comitting a crime is committing a crime. There are people who believe they hear the voice of a higher power and drown their kids in the bathtub, that doesn't mean they get some special exemption for being dumb fucks.
 
The line is when you make death threats? Vigilantism is against the law.

And it doesn't matter if people believe they're doing the right thing, comitting a crime is committing a crime. There are people who believe they hear the voice of a higher power and drown their kids in the bathtub, that doesn't mean they get some special exemption for being dumb fucks.

but does it do anything to address the core issue, and prevent this from happening again?

i guess my big issue is this is just one person. we hear of a new one WEEKLY now.
 
At some point Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, et al need to be held liable in court for allowing this stuff to propagate on their sites.

Its the only ways its going to stop.
 

commedieu

Banned
honest question.

who is at fault here?

the woman is an adult and is clearly responsible for her actions. right?

but like, these websites. this "bubble" SO MANY americans are in, especially considering the election we just had, dont they bare some responsibility here? isnt there defamation laws that directly apply to this case? like this woman is pleading not guilty. she believes, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that sandy hook was a lie and that this parent is a liar. to us, thats fucking BANANAS. but to her, its reality. like we look at this woman and even in this thread i see people getting actually, physically frustrated at her believing this.

and thats how she feels about us.

the pizza gate guy was the exact same. he really believed he was doing good. he threatened a bunch of innocent employees with a gun....but he believed he was saving children. like if i murder someone because i believe they are a spaghetti monster threatening the world, im not guilty for reasons of insanity right? well these people REALLY believe the news they are reading.

i guess im just trying to find the line? when does it stop becoming the average adults responsibility to educate themselves (never is an acceptable answer) and start becoming media's responsibility to report accurately?
The person breaking the law is at fault. You can't make death threats, because it's illegal. And you cant take the law into your own hands, because it's illegal.

Hopefully morons will learn from these morons to fact check before they do their illegal shit so it would be worth it.

Morons have been committing crimes for a myriad of reasons before the Internet. Even if you believe there's a satanism sex ring, you can't take the law into your own hands. Even if your dog is telling you to strangle prostitutes, you cant strangle prostitutes.
 

dskillzhtown

keep your strippers out of my American football
In this case it seems like a pretty clear story: a disabled person with no family, no future prospects, and no money sits at home all day refreshing the internet searching for meaning in a world that holds none for her and was seduced by people who provide "answers", even though they're nonsense, who in turn make it worse by encouraging her to disconnect from the world and the things in the world designed to anchor her to reality.

Pretty acute analysis. We have one of these at work. She was born with a silver spoon, now she is 40-something with 5 kids living a mid-middle class lifestyle and latches on to every conspiracy theory as an escape to her reality that isn't what she was used to for the first 20+ years of her life.

While I get that, I find that she is so gullible to be astonishing. Conspiracy theories are nothing new, but I think now with the combination of more people living alone and social media, people are more apt to put serious faith in them. You don't have a support group telling you how crazy you sound, only echo chambers reinforcing your beliefs.
 
At some point Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, et al need to be held liable in court for allowing this stuff to propagate on their sites.

Its the only ways its going to stop.

The person breaking the law is at fault. You can't make death threats, because it's illegal. And you cant take the law into your own hands, because it's illegal.

Hopefully morons will learn from these morons to fact check before they do their illegal shit so it would be worth it.

this is what im saying, dont these companies bare some responsibility here? you say hopefully that person fact checks before they do this dumb shit. Hopefully! But to them, the facts are all lies.

yes i agree the person breaking the law is at fault. but there are VAST swaths of people that believe breaking the law and doing this is literally the only option.

arrest the woman that made death threats. you caught one. great job. theres 1000 more out there and there is some asshole getting paid to write it to them daily. isnt that a bigger issue? idk.

idk wtf to do.
 

Akuun

Looking for meaning in GAF
I think both, though I'd blame the conspiracy sites sites more than the lady. The lady is both a victim and a perpetrator in this case.

To a extent, people should be expected to exercise reasonable judgement and not fall for scams. Having said that, I don't think it should be a crime to fall for cons. But where this lady goes wrong is sending the death threats and perpetuating this stuff. Even if she did believe in these things, sending death threats online is not the right way to go about it. Same goes for the vigilante guy with the gun at the pizza place. Even if he thought it was the right thing to do, he went about it the wrong way.

The propaganda/conspiracy sites, on the other hand, are much more at fault. There is freedom of speech in the country so you can say whatever you want, but spreading total lies like this is incredibly dangerous. it's effectively scamming people into hate and violence. It causes incredible grief and harm to people who don't deserve it. It should be a crime to throw wild accusations like this.
 
this is what im saying, dont these companies bare some responsibility here?

yes i agree the person breaking the law is at fault. but there are VAST swaths of people that believe breaking the law and doing this is literally the only option.

arrest the woman that made death threats. you caught one. great job. theres 1000 more out there and there is some asshole getting paid to write it to them daily. isnt that a bigger issue? idk.

idk wtf to do.

In my opinion, they absolutely do. And I can only hope that at some point a combination of an ambitious attorney and a sympathetic judge is going to result in one of them being held liable in a wrongful death lawsuit.

It would get this shit wiped from the mainstream social media sites almost immediately.
 
I think both, though I'd blame the conspiracy sites sites more than the lady. The lady is both a victim and a perpetrator in this case.

To a extent, people should be expected to exercise reasonable judgement and not fall for scams. Having said that, I don't think it should be a crime to fall for cons. But where this lady goes wrong is sending the death threats and perpetuating this stuff. Even if she did believe in these things, sending death threats online is not the right way to go about it. Same goes for the vigilante guy with the gun at the pizza place. Even if he thought it was the right thing to do, he went about it the wrong way.

right?? we can all agree that taking the law into your own hands is illegal.

but doesnt it ignore that these people were made to believe there was literally no other option?

they should be charged for breaking the law. i just think steps need to be made to prevent the people who made them believe this shit, able to do so.
 
In this case it seems like a pretty clear story: a disabled person with no family, no future prospects, and no money sits at home all day refreshing the internet searching for meaning in a world that holds none for her and was seduced by people who provide "answers", even though they're nonsense, who in turn make it worse by encouraging her to disconnect from the world and the things in the world designed to anchor her to reality.

I feel that you nailed it.
 

WinFonda

Member
So pathetic. Even if you strip away all the tragedy and look at what she did thru her warped conspiratorial vacuum, she and others like her would still be harassing and sending threats to complete strangers. These sandy hook deniers are mentally unstable, and you have to wonder about their ability to feel empathy.

I feel so much and anger and sorrow for the parents who continue to have to deal with them and have their wounds re-opened.
 
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