Indiana Man Indicted for Sending Death Threats to ADL Staff

The Department of Justice announced last week that a federal grand jury has indicted an Indiana man for making telephone death threats to offices of the Anti-Defamation League in New York, Houston, Denver and Las Vegas. The Indictment (full text) in United States v. Boryga, (SD IN, Oct. 3, 2023), charges defendant with four counts of transmitting in interstate commerce a threat to injure. It charges that defendant chose the threat targets because of the actual and perceived religion of ADL employees and members. According to DOJ:

If convicted on all counts, Boryga faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000.

Church Autonomy Doctrine Does Not Shield Criminal Conduct

 In Hochstetler v. State of Indiana, (IN App., July 27, 2023), an Indiana state appellate court held that criminal conduct is not shielded by the church autonomy doctrine. In the case, three Old Order Amish bishops were convicted of misdemeanor intimidation for threatening to place an Amish wife under a bann if she did not remove herself from a protective order she had obtained to protect her and her children from her husband.

New Ohio Law Focuses on Zoom-Bombing and Other Disruptions of Religious Services

As reported by JTA, the Ohio legislature in its final session earlier this month gave final passage to H.B. 504 (full text) amending the ban on disturbing a lawful meeting to increase penalties and to focus specifically on disturbing religious services.  The Act now provides in part:

Disturbing a lawful meeting is a misdemeanor of the first degree if either of the following applies:

(1) The violation is committed with the intent to disturb or disquiet any assemblage of people met for religious worship at a tax-exempt place of worship, regardless of whether the conduct is within the place at which the assemblage is held or is on the property on which that place is located and disturbs the order and solemnity of the assemblage.

(2) The violation is committed with the intent to prevent, disrupt, or interfere with a virtual meeting or gathering of people for religious worship, through use of a computer, computer system, telecommunications device, or other electronic device or system, or in any other manner.

Clause (2) of this section is particularly aimed at the practice of Zoom-bombing religious services that are being held online. Zoom-bombing has especially been used during the COVID pandemic to create antisemitic disruptions of online synagogue services.  In Ohio, a first-degree misdemeanor is punishable by up to 6 months in jail and a fine of up to $1000.

Some Charges Against Tree of Life Synagogue Shooter Are Dismissed

United States v. Bowers, (WD PA, Dec. 15, 2022), involves the prosecution of the defendant who is charged with killing 11 people in 2018 at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh. He is charged under a 63 count Superseding Indictment. 25 of those charges allege discharge of a firearm during a crime of violence.  In this decision, the court dismissed charges of violating 18 USC §924(c)-- use of a firearm in a crime of violence-- to the extent that the charges rely on 18 USC §249(a)(1) as being a crime of violence. As described in by the court:

Section 249(a)(1) applies to anyone who “willfully causes bodily injury to any person or, through the use of fire, a firearm, a dangerous weapon, or an explosive or incendiary device, attempts to cause bodily injury to any person, because of the actual or perceived race, color, religion, or national origin of any person . . . .”...

Relying on Third Circuit precedent, the court concluded that it is possible to "willfully cause bodily injury" without the use of force, for example, deliberate failure to provide food or medical care. The court concluded:

Because Section 249(a)(1) does not require the government to prove, in every case, “the use, attempted use, or threatened use of physical force against the person or property of another,” it does not qualify as a “crime of violence.”

However, to the extent that the 25 charges of violating 18 USC §924(c) rely on a violation of 18 USC Section 247(a)(2)-- willful obstruction, by force or threat of force, of individuals in the enjoyment of their free exercise of religious beliefs-- the charges were not dismissed.  Section 247(a)(2), the court held, is a crime of violence.