After admitting that she sent death threats to a Palm Beach County man whose 6-year-old son was murdered in the Sandy Hook school mass shooting, Lucy Richards apologized to the victims on Wednesday.
She also acknowledged that the tragic incident was not a hoax.
“I don’t know where my head and my heart were that day when I made the calls but they were not in the right place,” Richards said, speaking in a meek voice, before she was sentenced in federal court in Fort Lauderdale.
The judge sentenced her to five months in federal prison, followed by five months of house arrest with electronic monitoring and three years of supervised release.
Though Richards has a history of mental health problems, Senior U.S. District Judge James Cohn told her he did not believe they were a major factor in her decision to commit the crime.
He gave her a stern lecture and said that “hatred and bigotry appeared to have at least some bearing” when she targeted the grieving parent of a murdered child.
“Your words were cruel and insensitive,” the judge told Richards. “Your words … do have consequences. Words do matter. This is reality. There is no fiction [here] and there are no alternative facts.”
The judge ordered Richards to continue to receive mental health treatment and banned her from visiting several websites that promote conspiracy theories that falsely claim the Sandy Hook and other mass shootings never happened. He also banned her from possessing guns or weapons.
Richards, 57, of Brandon, was part of a group of people who insist that some mass shootings are part of a government hoax or conspiracy to take away gun rights, the judge said.
Using a wheelchair in court and dressed in brown jail scrubs, Richards apologized for sending four threatening voicemail and email messages to Lenny Pozner, who now lives in Palm Beach County. Pozner’s son, Noah, was killed in the 2012 mass shooting in Connecticut.
In her apology, Richards said she was “truly sorry” and mentioned Noah and both of his parents by name: “I will never make any inappropriate calls ever again.”
Judge Cohn told her he didn’t understand why she had sent the threats.
“Unfortunately for Leonard Pozner, his loss is all too real,” the judge told Richards. “I am sure he wishes this was fake and he could embrace Noah, feel Noah’s heartbeat and hear Noah say ‘I love you, Dad.’ All too real, Mr. Pozner is left with shattered dreams and a broken heart that will never mend.”
In a statement to the Sun Sentinel, Lenny and Veronique Pozner wrote that they were glad the justice system held Richards and other people accountable for harassing crime victims.
“Losing a child, particularly in the manner we lost Noah, is a horrifying, life-changing event. Day after day, we wake up with the knowledge that we have to face the rest of our lives without our boy,” the Pozners wrote.
“People like Lucy Richards, who torment victims of violent crime by denying and mocking their pain are a sad reality. Her sadism is evident in her statements and the twisted joy she gets in pouring salt in our wounds and adding to our pain. Whatever demons drove her to threaten [Lenny], she needs to be held accountable for her crime.”
After the shootings, Lenny Pozner founded the HONR Network, an organzation that works to combat conspiracy theorists on mass shootings.
Richards has been jailed for the past 2 1/2 months after admitting she violated the terms of her release on bond by not showing up for a prior court hearing in late March. Her bond was revoked and she was arrested near her home in the Tampa area a few days later, on April 1.
Richards, a former waitress who is receiving Social Security disability payments, told investigators she was angry and sent the death threats to Pozner after reading up the conspiracy theories online.
Richards “is the product of an extremely unusual upbringing,” was “emotionally abused by her parents” and was “reared in a hell hole,” Assistant Federal Public Defender Robert Berube wrote in his sentencing memorandum.
Richards told experts she has been estranged from most of her family for years and did not have a normal childhood, court records show. She reported that her parents were not loving and supportive and that they would not allow their children to receive medical treatment, based on her father’s religious beliefs.
According to the psychological report, Richards was diagnosed with agoraphobia, an anxiety disorder that often includes fear of open spaces, and obsessive compulsive disorder and has been under the care of mental health experts for much of her life. She has been hospitalized for psychiatric treatment in the past.
She said that she spent much of her life confined to her home because of her fears but has made progress in overcoming her anxiety. Since her arrest last year, she has been attending counseling sessions.
The judge ordered the report, which was initially filed under seal, unsealed and made public.
The judge imposed a more severe punishment than the one recommended by Berube and Assistant U.S. Attorney Karen Gilbert. They had jointly suggested a punishment of five months of house arrest, followed by 2 1/2 years of supervised release. The maximum possible penalty was five years in prison and sentencing guidelines recommended 10 to 16 months in prison.
After the sentencing, Berube said he and Richards thought the judge had been very fair: “We are thankful for the results. It could have been very different.”
Cohn made it very clear that he was drawing a distinction between thoughts and actions. He said the punishment was not intended to punish or deter thought or political ideology but was intended to deter Richards, and others, from threatening to harm other human beings.
“In this country, there is no legal restraint on thought,” the judge said. “You have the absolute right to think and believe as you so desire. There are, however, legal restraints on communications — you do not have the right to transmit threats of injury to another [person].”
pmcmahon@sunsentinel.com, 954-356-4533 or Twitter @SentinelPaula
