A 56-year-old Canadian and French dual citizen named Pascale Cecile Veronique Ferrier has been given a 21-year prison sentence for mailing letters laced with poison to former President Donald Trump and eight law enforcement officials in Texas. Ferrier had previously pleaded guilty to the charges and was sentenced after going through several months of legal proceedings.
The letters she sent contained homemade ricin toxin and were sent from her home in Quebec. In her letter to Trump, she referred to him as an “ugly tyrant clown” and expressed her opposition to his presidency. Her aim was to send a message of protest against his leadership, stating that he was leading the United States towards disaster. Despite having US cousins, she did not want Trump to serve another four years as President.
Prior to this incident, Ferrier had a history of making threatening comments about the former president on social media, even using the hashtag “#killTrump.” These actions raised concerns about public safety and led to her arrest when she tried to cross into Buffalo from Canada in September 2020.
While Ferrier argued that the homemade ricin she used was not highly concentrated and claimed that her intent was to give a “strong warning,” prosecutors emphasized the fear and anxiety caused by her actions. Although no deaths resulted from the letters, they caused significant worry and posed a threat to public officials.
Throughout the legal proceedings, Ferrier maintained that she was an “activist” rather than a terrorist. She expressed remorse that her attempt to prevent Trump from staying in power had failed. This case sheds light on the serious consequences of such acts and the complex intersection between free speech, protest, and criminal behavior. The 21-year sentence given to Ferrier illustrates the gravity of her actions and the potential harm posed by sending poisonous substances to public figures.