US federal judge sentences Texas man to 3 months prison for threatening Boston doctor affiliated with LGBTQ+ health center News
Beyond My Ken, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
US federal judge sentences Texas man to 3 months prison for threatening Boston doctor affiliated with LGBTQ+ health center

A Massachusetts federal judge sentenced a Texas man to serve three months in federal prison on Thursday for threatening a Boston, Massachusetts doctor affiliated with the national LGBTQIA+ health education center. The US Department of Justice (DOJ) announced Matthew Jordan Lindner’s sentence after he previously pleaded guilty to one count of interstate transmission of threatening communication in December 2023.

In a sentencing memo filed in the case on Monday, federal prosecutors with the US Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts requested “that the Court accept the parties’ plea agreement, and sentence defendant Matthew Lindner to serve 3 months in prison, a 36- month term of supervised release, and pay restitution to Victim 1 in the amount of $2,986.” On Thursday, Senior US District Judge William Young imposed the requested sentence upon Lindner.

After the ruling was announced, acting US Attorney Joshua Levy said:

This office will aggressively investigate and prosecute acts of hate and intimidation. Threatening a medical doctor providing essential care to children is deplorable. No one in this country should live in fear for their safety because of their identity, gender, race, religion or beliefs.  Full stop. 

In late 2022, a wave of terrorist threats were directed at healthcare providers across the country. “In many cases, they have been the subject of posts by a Twitter account called Libs of TikTok, as well as stories in conservative media outlets casting gender-affirming care as child abuse and mutilation,” noted an NPR report from August 2022—just a few days after Lindner engaged in the acts for which he is now imprisoned.

“Imagine the terror of having your life threatened for just doing your job. Matthew Lindner accosted a physician for doing exactly that, and in doing so instilled unnecessary fear in the medical community,” said Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Boston Division Jodi Cohen. “Hateful, repulsive, and threatening behavior like this has no place here, and today’s sentence demonstrates that we won’t stand for criminals terrorizing innocent people. Nobody should have to fear becoming the target of vitriol-fueled violence.”

THIS DAY @ LAW

Line of Demarcation divides the New World between Spain and Portugal

On May 4, 1493, Pope Alexander VI promulgated the Line of Demarcation, dividing the New World between Spain and Portugal in response the return of Christopher Columbus from his discovery of the American continents. However, neither country was entirely satisfied with the placement of the Line. A year later on June 7, 1494, the two nations signed the Treaty of Tordesillas, which moved the Line of Demarcation further west, giving Portugal claim to Brazil.

Kent State student shootings precipitated lawsuits

On May 4, 1970, National Guardsmen at Kent State University opened fire on students protesting the US invasion of Cambodia, killing four.

Review a legal chronology of the Kent State shootings, from May 5, 1970 (the day the FBI investigation started) to January 4, 1979 (the day the state of Ohio reached an out-of-court settlement for $675,000 with victims and relatives of victims).