TEXARKANA -- A Texas woman who received an 18-year federal prison sentence last week for mailing ricin-laced letters to President Barack Obama and others wants to appeal her case.
Shannon Guess Richardson, 36, penned a handwritten note "to whom it may concern" that was entered into court records in her case Tuesday in the Texarkana Division of the Eastern District of Texas.
"I want to appeal my sentence, my case, immediately please," said the one-sentence letter, which is being treated by the court as a notice of appeal.
Richardson of New Boston voluntarily pleaded guilty in December to developing and producing a biological agent for use as a weapon at a hearing in Texarkana's downtown federal building before U.S. Magistrate Judge Caroline Craven. At that hearing, Richardson's lawyer, Tonda Curry of Tyler, Texas, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Frank Coan said Richardson's plea agreement included an 18-year term.
At Richardson's sentencing hearing July 17 before U.S. District Judge Michael Schneider, Richardson waived most of her appellate rights as part of the plea bargain. At the sentencing hearing, Schneider said Richardson can appeal if the court imposed a sentence greater than recommended under federal sentencing guidelines or if her lawyer provided ineffective assistance in the case.
Richardson complained at length at her sentencing hearing about the length of the prison term she agreed to accept. The sentence did not exceed federal guidelines. Richardson told Schneider she was satisfied with Curry's performance, as well.
Curry said defendants are entitled to a court-appointed lawyer to represent them on a first direct appeal of a criminal sentence. An appellate lawyer appointment had not been made in Richardson's case as of noon Wednesday.
If Richardson had taken her case to trial, she faced up to life in federal prison.
Richardson sent threatening letters in May 2013 to Obama, former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Mark Glaze, head of a gun-control advocacy group. The notes were tainted with the poison ricin, which the mother of six concocted in the Maple Street home in New Boston that she shared with her now former husband, Nathaniel Richardson, and four of Shannon Richardson's sons from a previous marriage.
Shannon Richardson was pregnant when she cooked the ricin using castor beans, syringes, lye and other materials she ordered over the Internet using credit cards in her husband's name.
On May 30, 2013, Shannon Richardson drove to the Shreveport Police Department and falsely pointed to Nathaniel Richardson as the source of the poisonous notes. But a polygraph showed evidence of deception by Shannon Richardson. When confronted by investigators, her story changed.
Shannon Richardson has been held since June 7, 2013, and prematurely gave birth while in custody. The baby is in Nathaniel Richardson's custody, and Shannon Richardson's other children are living with relatives out of state.
State Desk on 07/25/2014