daniel "jack corbin" mcmahon is finally being sentenced today. he pleaded guilty in april to two of the four counts on which he was indicted - the plea agreement dropped the other counts. https://twitter.com/socialistdogmom/status/1255874522579959814?s=20

the crimes he's pleaded guilty to are bias motivated election interference and cyberstalking. the maximum possible prison sentence on these two offenses is 6 years.

the government has filed a sentencing memorandum asking for the sentencing guideline max of 41 months + 3 years of supervised release (during which he would need his probation officer's permission to use the internet)

the defense sentencing memorandum requests a sentence of only 18 months, well below the sentencing guideline minimum of 33 months, an argument they base largely on his diagnosis of asperger's syndrome which they appear to be arguing causes you to harass people online.

the idea that having asperger's made him repeatedly, graphically threaten to rape someone's daughter, a minor with severe autism, is repulsive. he absolutely, 100% knew that making an extortionate threat to rape a child was wrong.

mcmahon's attorney calls what he did "drunk driving on the internet." he leaves in this wake not just the hundreds of individuals he targeted for harassment over the years, but the entire city of charlottesville.

by interfering with the 2019 city council election, mcmahon deprived us of the chance to have don gathers as a city councilor in this political moment. by making racially motivated threats to murder a candidate for office in a city where he did not live, he changed the outcome.

the hearing is starting now. he's already served just under a year - if the defense has their way, he'll be out in a matter of months.
i'm not sure if we will hear from the victims themselves today, but i know they both wrote letters, which the judge will have read.

the judge says he has received objections to amending the presentencing report to include a letter from an EG.

(as always, we are having problems with people not muting their phones on the conference call - i just heard someone say "i love you" )

the government says they have no witnesses but both victims will be speaking. the defense has no witnesses.

don gathers, the victim on the bias motivated election interference charge, says he had never heard of daniel mcmahon before january 2019.
"simply for some sick, twisted reason you chose to target met," "you chose to inject your sad ideology into this community"

"i would ask you why, but that would mean i was open to open some conversation with you, and i have no desire to do so," don gathers tells the nazi who threatened him into dropping out of an election.

"for this you may think you have somehow won," but a new day is coming, one you and your ilk are unprepared for.
gathers, who is a church deacon, quotes matthew 5:44

"jesus says love the sinner and hate the sin... but i'm not there yet."

"i will say that i pray that you come out a better man... hell, i pray that you come out a man," gathers says. he tells mcmahon to submit his wretched soul to the lord. "bless the black hole that exists where your heart should be."

"like it or not, black lives matter," reverend don gathers tells daniel "jack corbin" mcmahon, the neonazi who made racist threats against him that caused him to drop out of the 2019 charlottesville city council election.

the court now reads a letter submitted by 'victim 2,' whose name is redacted. she is an antiracist activist who received extortionate threats from mcmahon - he demanded she turn over the legal name of another activist, or he would rape her daughter.

victim 2 highlights the fact that mcmahon had a network of fellow racists around the country, who he enlisted to engage in harassment in person on his behalf. his relationship with confederates in north carolina physically endangered many of my friends.

daniel has hurt so many people i care about, but what he did to this sweet girl makes me absolutely apoplectic with rage.

"he does not seem to possess the moral compass that guides most people," the letter continues.

shortly before his arrest, he had been googling "how to have sex with autistic girls," seemingly because he planned to follow through on his threat to rape this child.

victim 2 also highlights the importance of keeping mcmahon off the internet after he is released.

"his identity is completely intertwined with the internet," she says. he harmed countless people from his parent's home in florida.

chris kavanaugh for the govt: the ability to run for office is a bedrock freedom that we all enjoy. mcmahon waged an online campaign from 1000 miles away to derail a local election in charlottesville. that alone is enough to justify a sentence at the top of the guideline range.

kavanaugh continues: after mcmahon's arrest, victim 2 came forward. "he said vile, harassing, intimidating, awful things about victim 2's minor, autistic daughter."
"the conversation speaks for itself," and is in the sentencing memo.

"he intends to resume his work on the internet as soon as he is released from incarceration," kavanaugh says, referencing mcmahon's own statements. the govt seeks post-release internet restrictions as well as no-contact orders for the victims.

jessica phillips for the defense says their arguement relies mainly on the memo & (sealed) mental health evaluation they've filed.

she says the judge in the initial detention hearing referenced mcmahon's "mental instability" as a reason to detain him, something the defense is now using as mitigation evidence.

it was "years of an untreated mental health disorder with an alcohol addition on top of that," phillips says, coupled with isolation were "a perfect storm," that caused his behavior.
she says his beliefs "could very easily be reinforced within the prison system."

phillips says a blanket internet restriction is too restrictive and would prevent him from communicating with his girlfriend in brazil (i still don't think this woman actually exists)

she also asks the court to recommend "intensive mental health treatment," would like the court to craft a sentence that would enable him to be eligible for RDAP, and would like him to serve his time in florida.
"your honor, he needs serious mental health treatment."

"he is going to be out eventually... he is going to be out in society," phillips says, the defense asks the court to give him a sentence that gives him a chance for a different outcome when he is released.

"it's hard to believe in either of the two cases that the facts could've been more egregious," judge moon says. one victim was terrorized out of running for office, the other was a mother whose disabled child's safety was threatened.

"it may not have been physically violent, but it couldn't have been more violent to one's mental health or feeling of well-being; the hurt is very deep, even if it's not physical," judge moon says.

the court acknowledges that he "has this mental health condition," but "that's not a get out of jail free card."

"similar conduct to these two offenses went back to the early 2000s, so it's not something that just happened," judge moon notes that this makes him a likely recidivist.
incarceration & limited computer use DOES protect the public in this case, he says.

the court will recommend that he receives mental health & substance abuse treatment while in prison.
"sorry he did the things he did, i'm sorry he's in this situation, but nevertheless he is."

the judge asks if mcmahon would like to say anything before his sentence is handed down. after some fumbling over various lines being muted, mcmahon asks to speak privately with his attorney for a moment.

time is a flat circle and we've come back around to this again https://twitter.com/socialistdogmom/status/1255884347942547462?s=20

mcmahon has nothing to say for himself.

judge moon says he's considered the guidelines, evidence, and testimony.
he hands down a sentence of 41 months, the guideline max.

daniel mcmahon is sentenced to 12 months on count 1 and 41 months on count 2, to be served concurrently. judge moon recommends he be allowed to serve his time as close to his family in florida as possible.

upon his release, mcmahon will have 1 year of supervised release on count 1 and 3 years on count 2 (concurrent) and judge moon orders him to have no contact with the victims.

upon his release, he will be legally prohibited from possessing, purchasing, or consuming alcohol for the three years of supervision.
judge moon recommends that while incarcerated, he receive substance abuse & mental health treatment.

for that three year period after his release, "the defendant may not purchase, possess, or use" a computer, cellular device, or internet connected device without prior authorization from his probation officer. any approved use would be monitored by his probation officer.

he will also pay a special assessment of $125, but there will be no additional fine due to his inability to pay.

"thank you both for doing an outstanding job with this difficult case," judge moon says to both attorneys.
a difficult case, indeed.

daniel "jack corbin" mcmahon was sentenced to the guideline max - 41 months in prison + 3 years of supervised release during which time he cannot access the internet.