Canadian woman sentenced to nearly 22 years in prison for ricin letter sent to Trump
WASHINGTON — A Canadian woman was sentenced in Washington on Thursday to nearly 22 years in prison for mailing a threatening letter containing the poison ricin to then-President Trump at the White House.
Pascale Ferrier, 56, had pleaded guilty to violating biological weapons prohibitions in letters sent to Trump and to police officials in Texas, where she had been jailed for several weeks in 2019.
Her defense attorney, Eugene Ohm, said Ferrier had no criminal record before that and is an “inordinately intelligent” French immigrant who had earned a master’s degree in engineering and raised two children as a single parent.
But in September 2020, prosecutors said Ferrier made the ricin at home in Quebec and mailed the potentially deadly poison derived from processing castor beans to Trump with a letter that referred to him as “The Ugly Tyrant Clown” and read in part: “If it doesn’t work, I’ll find better recipe for another poison, or I might use my gun when I’ll be able to come. Enjoy! FREE REBEL SPIRIT.”
The letter from Ferrier, which also told Trump to “give up and remove your application for this election,” was intercepted at a mail sorting facility in September 2020 before it could reach the White House.
She was arrested trying to enter the U.S. at a border crossing in Buffalo, N.Y., carrying a gun, a knife and hundreds of rounds of ammunition, authorities said. Investigators also found eight similar letters to law enforcement officials in charge of a Texas jail where she was held after she refused to leave a park area as it closed.
Authorities in Georgia are investigating threats made against the grand jurors who indicted former President Trump and 18 allies earlier this week.
In a rambling speech, Ferrier told the judge that she considers herself a “peaceful and genuinely kind person” but gets angry about problems such as unfairness, abuses of power and “stupid rules.” She spoke of feeling as though she had done little to uphold her values while her children were young, and considered herself an “activist” rather than a “terrorist.”
She expressed little remorse but said: “I want to find peaceful means to achieve my goals.”
U.S. District Judge Dabney Friedrich handed down the 262-month sentence outlined in a plea agreement with prosecutors, which also would expel Ferrier from the country once she is released and require her to be under supervised release for life if she ever returns.
The judge noted a “real disconnect” between the Canadian grandmother who has worked toward another degree while behind bars and the crimes she pleaded guilty to. Friedrich pushed back on Ferrier’s framing of her actions.
FBI agents kill a Utah man in a standoff after he threatened to assassinate President Biden, as violent rhetoric creates a more perilous political environment in the U.S.
“That isn’t really activism,” Friedrich said. “I hope you have no desire to continue on this path.”
Prosecutor Michael Friedman said the sentence was an “appropriately harsh punishment” that sends a clear message.
“There is absolutely no place for politically motivated violence in the United States of America,” he said. “There is no excuse for threatening public officials or targeting our public servants.”
Sign up for Essential California
The most important California stories and recommendations in your inbox every morning.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
