Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
MSD cyberstalker sentenced
California man to serve five and a half years in prison for threats
The 22-year-old California man who sent hundreds of obscene and threatening messages to grieving parents and survivors of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas massacre has been sentenced to five and a half years in prison.
The decision followed an emotional sentencing hearing in which Brandon Michael Fleury was painted as the next Nikolas Cruz by prosecutors, while the defense sought to portray him as a developmentally disabled autistic adult with little cognizance of his actions.
“This is not an easy task for anyone, and it gives me no joy,” said U.S. District Judge Rodolfo Ruiz as he announced the sentence.
Fleury was convicted by a jury in October 2019 of sending 301 shocking communications to survivors and victims of the Stoneman Douglas shooting over the course of two weeks in December 2018. The jury deliberated for a little over four hours before reaching its decision.
“Your grief is my joy,” Fleury wrote. “I killed your loved ones, hahaha.”
The messages caused panic and fear among the parents and survivors who received them, reopening the wounds of the massacre just as the victims were preparing for their first holiday without their loved ones.
“He planned out his terror on our family in such a strategic, dramatic way. It’s something we have yet to recover from,” said Fred Guttenberg at the sentencing hearing. Guttenberg’s daughter, Jaime Guttenberg, was slain in the massacre.
“Brandon Fleury, if you are, indeed, autistic or otherwise developmentally disabled, it is cowardly, disgraceful and inaccurate to blame your behavior on these factors,” wrote Jeff Kasky in a letter that was read aloud to the courtroom. Kasky is the father of Cameron Kasky, a survivor of the shoot
ing.
“There is a real danger that he will attempt to follow in the footsteps of the very mass murderers and serial killers he idolized,” warned Max Schachter, the father of Alex Schachter, another student who was slain.
Prosecutors evidently agreed, asking the judge to impose the maximum sentence possible: 20 years in prison, five years for each count of communicating threats over the internet.
“We have an individual who fantasizes about the harm that was inflicted. This defendant is sexually aroused by serial killers, school shooters,” said Assistant United States Attorney Ajay Alexander as he argued the government’s motion for the maximum sentence to the judge.
Alexander was referring to a series of interviews Fleury gave to FBI agents shortly after he was detained. In the transcripts of the interviews with agents, which were presented at trial, the defendant freely admitted to being aroused by school shooters and serial killers.
Agents later found thousands of photos of serial killer Ted Bundy on Fleury’s tablet computer.
Prosecutors used that evidence, along with Fleury’s extensive school disciplinary record, to paint him as a potential school shooter at the sentencing.
“How come no one has stopped a shooter before he became a shooter?” Alexander asked, rhetorically.
“Well, your honor, here we are. We stopped a shooter before he became a shooter.”
In stark contrast to the sentencing recommendations made by the prosecution, the defense asked that Fleury be placed in a psychiatric residential treatment program rather than a prison.
“He is capable of learning social skills,” said Dr. Lynda Geller, a psychiatric expert for the defense. “To make him something more threatening that he is, isn’t accurate.”
In arguing that the young man would eventually be capable of re-entering society, Geller broke down the difference between Fleury and a psychopath.
“Autistic people can’t recognize (emotion) but really care,” She noted.
“The psychopath can recognize, but doesn’t care.” she explained. “You can’t teach a psychopath to care about people, but you can teach an autistic person to recognize.”
U.S. District Judge Ruiz sought to balance the need for deterrence and the vulnerability of the crime’s victims with the possibility that Fleury might some day become a productive member of society.
Noting that Fleury was not the Parkland school shooter, and that the young man could only be sentenced for the crimes that he had actually been convicted of, the judge denied the prosecution’s request for the maximum sentence before going on to say that Fleury’s case needed to serve as an example.
“When they see this sentence [people should] think twice of threatening anyone on the internet, especially the most vulnerable in our community,” the judge noted, with emotion, from the bench.
After assigning Fleury to the custody of the Federal Bureau of Prisons for five and a half years, the judge said the defendant should be assigned to a work skills program that would help him learn the social skills he lacked.
““I believe and I hope you will prove me right that you will be able to be reintegrated into society,” Ruiz said as he looked directly at Fleury.
“I’m not letting this define you,” The judge told the young man. “I know it sounds like a lot of time, but it needs to be done.”