Four More Defendants Sentenced for Federal Civil Rights Conspiracy and Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Offenses

WASHINGTON – A U.S. District Court judge today sentenced four more of 10 the defendants who conspired to create a blockade at a Washington, D.C. reproductive health care clinic to prevent the clinic from providing, and patients from receiving, reproductive health services.

The announcement was made by U.S. Attorney Matthew M. End of
Translation Graves, Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke for the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, and FBI Special Agent in Charge David J. Scott of the Washington Field Office’s Criminal and Cyber Division.

U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly today sentenced Herb Geraghty, 27, of Pittsburgh to 27 months in prison and three years of supervised release. Joan Bell, 76, of Montague, NY, received 27 months incarceration and three years of supervised release. Jonathan Darnel, 42, of Arlington, Va., was sentenced to 34 months and three years of supervised release. Jean Marshall, 74, of Kingston, Mass., was sentenced to 24 months and three months of supervised release. All four were convicted by a jury of civil rights conspiracy and Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act violations.

Three defendants were sentenced yesterday, May 14. Lauren Handy, 30, of Alexandria, Virginia was sentenced to 57 months in prison and three years of supervised release. John Hinshaw, 69, of Levittown, New York, received 21 months incarceration and three years of supervised release. William Goodman, 54, of Bronx, New York, was sentenced to 27 months and three years of supervised release. All three were of civil rights conspiracy and FACE Act violations.

Two additional defendants–Paulette Harlow, 75, Kingston, Mass., and Heather Idoni, of Linden, Mich., 59 – will be sentenced in the coming weeks. Another of the defendants, the only one to plead guilty, Jay Smith, 34, of Freeport, New York, was sentenced to 10 months in prison and three years of supervised release in March 2023.

As the evidence at trial showed, the defendants engaged in a conspiracy to create a blockade at the reproductive health care clinic to prevent the clinic from providing, and patients from receiving, reproductive health services. As part of the conspiracy, Handy, Hinshaw, and Goodman, traveled to Washington, D.C. from various northeast and midwestern states, to meet with Handy and participate in a clinic blockade that was directed by Handy and was broadcast on Facebook.

According to the evidence, Handy, Hinshaw, and Goodman – along with their co-conspirators – forcefully entered the clinic and set about blockading two clinic doors using their bodies, furniture, chains, and ropes. Once the blockade was established, their activities were live-streamed. The evidence also showed that the defendants violated the FACE Act by using a physical obstruction to injure, intimidate and interfere with the clinic’s employees and a patient, because they were providing or obtaining reproductive health services.

DEFENDANTS

This case was investigated by the FBI’s Washington Field Office, with valuable assistance from the Metropolitan Police Department and the FBI’s Pittsburgh Field Office. It was prosecuted by the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division and the Fraud, Public Corruption and Civil Rights Section of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia. The U.S. Attorneys’ Offices for the District of New Jersey, District of Massachusetts, Eastern District of Michigan, Eastern District of New York, and Southern District of New York; and FBI Field Offices in Newark, New York City, Boston, and Detroit provided valuable assistance.