United States v. DiLlard
| Decision Date | 21 December 2011 |
| Docket Number | Case No. 11–1098–JTM. |
| Citation | 835 F.Supp.2d 1120 |
| Parties | UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff, v. Angel DILLARD, Defendant. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — District of Kansas |
OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE
Aaron Fleisher, U.S. Department of Justice, Washington, DC, Barry R. Grissom, United States Attorney's Office, Kansas City, KS, for Plaintiff.
Donald A. McKinney, McKinney Law Offices, Wichita, KS, for Defendant.
Dr. Mila Means, a family practitioner in Wichita, Kansas, has publicly announced that she is receiving the training required for her to perform abortion services. Means had been a friend of Dr. George Tiller, a prominent provider of abortion services, until his murder on May 31, 2009, by Scott Roeder. On or around January 19, 2011, defendant Angel Dillard wrote a letter to Means urging her to drop her plans. Invoking consequences ranging from a loss of sleep to intense public scrutiny to eternal damnation, Dillard also wrote that Means “will be checking under your car everyday—because maybe today is the day someone places an explosive under it.” Means' office manager referred the letter to the police, and the United States subsequently commenced this action, seeking an award of damages on behalf of Means, and a civil monetary penalty against Dillard.1
It has come to our attention that you are planning to do abortions at your Harry St. location. I am stunned that you would take your career in this direction. Fewer people than ever before are pro-abortion, quality physicians wouldn't even consider associating themselves with it, and more Americans than ever before are unwilling to turn a blind eye to the killing of a baby when the ratio for adoption is 36 couples to 1 baby.
Maybe you don't realize the consequences of killing the innocent. If Tiller could speak from hell, he would tell you what a soulless existence you are purposefully considering, all in the name of greed. Thousands of people are already looking into your background, not just in Wichita, but from all over the U.S. They will know your habits and routines. They know where you shop, who your friends are, what you drive, where you live. You will be checking under your car everyday—because maybe today is the day someone places an explosive under it. People will be picketing your home, your office. You will come under greater scrutiny than you've ever known, legally and professionally. Much worse than the disciplinary actions and ethical concerns that you've been facing. You will become a pariah—no physician will want to associate with you. You will be seen like all the other hacks that have stooped to doing abortions when they weren't good enough to maintain a real practice. You will lose your legitimate clientele, as no one bringing a baby into this world wants to be in the same facility where you are also killing them. You will have trouble keeping staff who are willing to participate in innocent blood-shedding and won't be able to keep the sanitary conditions necessary to maintain a healthy medical facility. You will end up having the same kind of rat-infested, dirty facility that they have in north-eastern Kansas. Anyone who partners with you will experience the same headaches. Not to mention the fact that you will be haunted by bloody, squirming, dismembered babies in your sleep. You can't do what is morally reprehensible and enjoy peace of mind. The Bible says, “There are six things the Lord hates ... hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises evil schemes, feet that are quick to rush into evil ...” Proverbs 6:16–18. Abortion kills human life-it matters not if you kill it at 6 weeks or at 26 weeks, it's still the unnatural, violent death of a human baby for the sake of convenience. You are doing what the Humane Society wouldn't allow to happen to a pregnant dog or cat.
I urge you to think very carefully about the choices you are making. There are 3 churches within 1 block of your practice, and many others who must take a stand. We will not let this abomination continue without doing everything we can to stop it. We pray you will either make the right choice and use your medical practice to heal instead of kill, or that God will bring judgment on you, the likes of which you cannot imagine. We don't want you killing our children in our community. Good people are tired of this rampant evil, and will stand against you every step of the way. Do the world a favor and ABORT this stupid plan of yours. It's not too late to change your mind.
The government brought this action under the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act (FACE), 18 U.S.C. § 248(a)(1) which provides criminal and civil liability for any person who
by force or threat of force or by physical obstruction, intentionally injures, intimidates or interferes with or attempts to injure, intimidate or interfere with any person because that person is or has been, or in order to intimidate such person or any other person or any class of persons from, obtaining or providing reproductive health services.
FACE authorizes civil actions both by persons aggrieved by a violation of the Act, and by the Attorney General of the United States. In the case of the latter, the Act provides in subsection (c)(2):
(A) In general.—If the Attorney General of the United States has reasonable cause to believe that any person or group of persons is being, has been, or may be injured by conduct constituting a violation of this section, the Attorney General may commence a civil action in any appropriate United States District Court.
(B) Relief.—In any action under subparagraph (A), the court may award appropriate relief, including temporary, preliminary or permanent injunctive relief, and compensatory damages to persons aggrieved as described in paragraph (1)(B). The court, to vindicatethe public interest, may also assess a civil penalty against each respondent—
(I) in an amount not exceeding $10,000 for a nonviolent physical obstruction and $15,000 for other first violations; and
(ii) in an amount not exceeding $15,000 for a nonviolent physical obstruction and $25,000 for any other subsequent violation.
FACE explicitly defines “intimidate” as “to place a person in reasonable apprehension of bodily harm to him— or herself or another.” § 248(e)(3).
Dillard has moved to dismiss the action, arguing that her letter was constitutionally protected speech, cited the Supreme Court's recent decision in Snyder v. Phelps, ––– U.S. ––––, 131 S.Ct. 1207, 1215, 179 L.Ed.2d 172 (2011). In Snyder, the Court reiterated that “ ‘speech on public issues occupies the highest rung of the hierarchy of First Amendment values' ” 131 S.Ct. at 1215 ( quoting Dun & Bradstreet, Inc. v. Greenmoss Builders, 472 U.S. 749, 760, 105 S.Ct. 2939, 86 L.Ed.2d 593 (1985)). Dillard contends that the court's finding, at the conclusion of the hearing on the government's motion for injunctive relief, that the letter was not a true threat, is the law of the case and is dispositive as to her motion to dismiss. (Dkt. 28, at 3, 22).
The First Amendment's prohibition of laws limiting the freedom of speech does not include “true threat[s].” Virginia v. Black, 538 U.S. 343, 359, 123 S.Ct. 1536, 155 L.Ed.2d 535 (2003). Prosecution under FACE, therefore, has been interpreted to require the existence of a true threat, that is, a “threat where a reasonable person would foresee that the listener will believe he will be subjected to physical violence, with the intent to intimidate physicians.” Planned Parenthood of Columbia/Willamette v. American Coalition of Life Activists, 422 F.3d 949, 958 (9th Cir.2005). See also Planned Parenthood of the Columbia/Willamette v. American Coalition of Life Activists, 290 F.3d 1058 (9th Cir.2002) (upholding FACE against First Amendment challenge).
In the context of a state criminal prosecution for cross-burning, the Supreme Court has emphasized the intent of the accused:
“True threats” encompass those statements where the speaker means to communicate a serious expression of an intent to commit an act of unlawful violence to a particular individual or group of individuals. The speaker need not actually intend to carry out the threat.... Intimidation in the constitutionally proscribable sense of the word is a type of true threat, where a speaker directs a threat to a person or group of persons with the intent of placing the victim in fear of bodily harm or death.
Virginia v. Black, 538 U.S. at 359–60, 123 S.Ct. 1536 (2003) (citations omitted).
The determination of whether a given communication is a true threat is “a fact-intensive inquiry, in which the language, the context in which the statements were made, as well as the recipients' responses are all relevant.” Nielander v. Bd. of County Commissioners, 582 F.3d 1155, 1167–68 (10th Cir.2009) (). In determining whether communications constitute an unprotected true threat, they “should be considered in light of their entire factual context, including the surrounding events and reaction of the listeners.” United States v. Orozco–Santillan, 903 F.2d 1262 1265 (9th Cir.1990), overruled in part on other gds., United States v. Hanna, 293 F.3d 1080 (9th Cir.2002). The Eight Circuit has specifically applied this standard to prosecutions under FACE, holding that “[t]he court must analyzean alleged threat in the light of [its] entire factual context and decide whether the recipient of the alleged threat could reasonably conclude that it expresses a determination or intent to injury presently or in the future.” United States v. Dinwiddie, 76 F.3d 913, 925 (8th Cir.1996) (internal quotations and citations omitted). It is not necessary that a speaker actually intend to commit violence. Virginia v. Black, 538 U.S. at 360, 123 S.Ct. 1536. The...
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