TEXARKANA, Texas–A woman serving an 18-year federal prison sentence for mailing letters from her home in Bowie County tainted with the deadly toxin ricin to President Barack Obama and others and attempting to frame her now-former husband for the crime is asking the court to reduce her sentence.
Shannon Guess Richardson, 47, had five children from previous relationships and was pregnant with her then-husband’s child when she ordered castor beans, lye, syringes, needles and other materials using email, credit card and PayPal accounts she had opened in her husband’s name in mid-2013.
Richardson mailed letters tainted with the poison she cooked up in her family’s home in the 100 block of Maple Street in New Boston, Texas, to Obama, former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the head of a gun control advocacy group. The letters contained threatening messages along with the ricin and were written as if from a man.
Richardson has filed a motion in the federal court where she was sentenced to 18 years in July 2014 seeking a reduction in her sentence under new law that suggests offenders without a previous criminal history should serve less time than under previous guidelines.
The government filed a response this month opposing any change in Richardson’s sentence, arguing that she is ineligible for any such reduction because her conduct involved actual ricin that could have sickened or killed anyone who handled one of the poison letters she mailed.
“While Richardson did have a criminal history score of zero, she is not eligible for relief under the retroactive application of Part B to Amendment 821 because she ‘used violence or
credible threats of violence in connection with the offense,’” Assistant U.S. Attorney Ryan Locker wrote in a response opposing any shortening of Richardson’s prison term.
The government’s response further points out in a footnote that while the federal judge that sentenced Richardson in July 2014 at a hearing in Texarkana’s downtown federal building opted not to apply a terrorism enhancement – another factor which would make her ineligible for the sentence reduction she seeks – officials had noted in her pre-sentence report that such an enhancement could apply.
The ricin letters contained messages that threatened violence in response to gun laws.
“You will have to kill me and my family before you get my guns,” one of the ricin-laced letters said. “Anyone wants to come to my house will get shot in the face. The right to bear arms is my constitutional God given right and I will exercise that right til the day I die. What’s in this letter is nothing compared what I’ve got planned for you.”
After the letters were mailed, Richardson contacted authorities in the Texarkana area and attempted to blame the crimes on her husband, who then worked in Bowie County at Red River Army Depot. Investigators searched the husband’s car and found castor beans that Richardson had planted and discovered that his lunch was tainted with the toxin. He was quickly cleared, Richardson flunked a polygraph and eventually confessed.
Richardson prematurely gave birth in July 2014 while being held in advance of the resolution of her case. Her former husband has taken custody of the child and the other children were placed with relatives. Richardson fancied herself an actress and had appeared as an extra in shows including The Walking Dead.
Richardson pleaded guilty in December 2013 and was sentenced in July 2014 with credit for time she had spent behind bars while her case was pending. The U.S. Bureau of Prison shows that Richardson’s expected release date is currently Dec. 29, 2028.
While there is no parole from a federal prison term, an offender may earn up to 54 days credit per year toward their sentence for good behavior. The BOP’s website shows that Richardson is currently being held in a federal prison in Fort Worth, Texas.
Richardson’s motion is currently pending before U.S. District Judge Robert Schroeder III in the Texarkana Division of the Eastern District of Texas.