LifeSiteNews is reporting that Judge Ellen Bree Burns of the U.S. District Court in New Haven sentenced Daniel Sarno of Enfield to five years probation after sending more than 300 abusive letters to Peter Wolfgang, executive director of the Family Institute of Connecticut, because of the organization's position on marriage. Many of Sarno's letters were laced with death threats.
“No mercy for homophobes,” one letter read. “I suggest you make your funeral arrangements real soon, Mr. Wolfgang. (I should know.)”
“I sure hope somebody blows you away. Yer dead," one letter said, while another asked "Are ‘family values’ worth dying for, Mr. Wolfgang?”
Sentencing guidelines called for up to 16 months in jail, but the judge was swayed by a letter written by Lawrence Taffner, the Family Institute's operations director, asking her to "temper justice with mercy and prayer."
The judge was also swayed toward leniency by a letter from psychiatrist Jonathan Greenberg and psychologist Coleen Dobo who claimed imprisonment “would make [Sarno] vulnerable to victimization and a disintegration of his mental status.”
Regardless of these calls for mercy, prosecutor John H. Durham asked Judge Burns to impose a stiff sentence, arguing that many of Institute's staff were forced to change their lifestyles as a result of the death threats.
Judge Burns decided not to sentence Sarno to jail, but gave him five years of probation. She cited him as being "a disturbed individual who needs a great deal of help.”
Wolfgang, a married father of six, later told the Journal Inquirer that he forgave Sarno for the letters and the abuse he and his coworkers suffered.
He also noted that the case highlights "a growing campaign of intimidation” by militant homosexuals who too often resort to threats and violence to silence those who oppose their lifestyle.
Wolfgang is right. These threats are not uncommon, nor are they confined to adults. In recent months, activists have launched similar attacks against 14 year-old Sarah Crank, threatening to kill her because she testified against same-sex marriage before the Maryland state senate in January of this year.
That they are becoming even more threatening was evidenced last year when Floyd Lee Corkins, 28, a LGBT volunteer activist, walked into the offices of the Family Research Council and started firing, hitting the building manager, Leo Johnson, in the arm. Corkins is now facing up to 70 years in prison at his sentencing which is scheduled for later this month.
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