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Michigan Woman Sentenced for D.C. Clinic Blockade
WASHINGTON – In a move to bring justice to a heinous crime, Heather Idoni, 59, of Linden, Michigan, was sentenced in U.S. District Court today to 24 months incarceration for her role in a conspiracy that created a blockade at a Washington, D.C. reproductive health care clinic to prevent the clinic from providing, and patients from receiving, reproductive health services.
The announcement was made by U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves, Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke for the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, and FBI Special Agent in Charge David J. Scott of the Washington Field Office’s Criminal and Cyber Division. “Using force and intimidation to deprive others of their civil rights is a crime, and rightly so,” said U.S. Attorney Graves. “This office will continue to defend and protect the right of every citizen to access health care.”
“Federal law is clear: using force, threatening to use force or physically obstructing access to reproductive health care is unlawful,” said Assistant Attorney General Clarke. “People have a First Amendment right to communicate their views but they do not have the right to use chains, locks and obstruction to prevent access to reproductive health care facilities. The Justice Department will continue to protect both patients seeking reproductive health services and providers of those services.”
Idoni is the ninth member of the conspiracy to be sentenced on charges of civil rights conspiracy and Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act violations. Earlier this month, U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly sentenced seven other members of the conspiracy.
As the evidence at trial showed, the defendants engaged in a conspiracy to create a blockade at the reproductive health care clinic to prevent the clinic from providing, and patients from receiving, reproductive health services. As part of the conspiracy, Handy, Hinshaw, and Goodman, traveled to Washington, D.C. from various northeast and midwestern states, to meet with Handy and participate in a clinic blockade that was directed by Handy and was broadcast on Facebook.
According to the evidence, Handy, Hinshaw, and Goodman – along with their co-conspirators – forcefully entered the clinic and set about blockading two clinic doors using their bodies, furniture, chains, and ropes. Once the blockade was established, their activities were live-streamed. The evidence also showed that the defendants violated the FACE Act by using a physical obstruction to injure, intimidate and interfere with the clinic’s employees and a patient, because they were providing or obtaining reproductive health services.
Idoni is the ninth defendant to be sentenced in the case, following in the footsteps of her co-conspirators:
DEFENDANTS
NAME | AGE | GUILTY OF | SENTENCE
Lauren Handy | 30 | Found Guilty on August 29, 2023, of Felony Conspiracy Against Civil Rights and Violation of the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act | Sentenced May 14, 2024, to 57 Months Incarceration and Three Years of Supervised Release
John Hinshaw | 69 | Found Guilty August 29, 2023, of Felony Conspiracy Against Civil Rights and Violating the FACE Act | Sentenced May 14, 2024, to 21 Months Incarceration and Three Years of Supervised Release
William Goodman | 54 | Found Guilty August 29, 2023, of Felony Conspiracy Against Civil Rights and Violating the FACE Act | Sentenced May 14, 2024, to 27 Months Incarceration and Three Years of Supervised Release
Jay Smith | 34 | Pleaded Guilty March 1, 2023, to Violating the FACE Act | Sentenced Aug. 17, 2023, to 10 Months Incarceration and Three Years of Supervised Release
Jonathan Darnel | 42 | Found Guilty September 15, 2023, of Felony Conspiracy Against Civil Rights and Violation of the FACE Act | Sentenced Oct. 23, 2023, to 24 Months Incarceration and Three Years of Supervised Release
The Justice Department will continue to take a hard stance against those who use force and intimidation to deprive others of their civil rights.
Key Facts
- State: Washington DC
- Agency: DOJ USAO
- Category: Violent Crime
- Source: Official Source ↗
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