Brazoria County Jail Abigail Jo Shry is accused of threatening Judge Tanya Chutkan.
Abigail Jo Shry is a Texas woman accused of threatening to kill U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, who is overseeing former President Trump’s federal criminal case. Shry was arrested August 11, 2023, according to federal court records obtained by Heavy.
The charge against Shry, who is accused of transmission in interstate or foreign commerce any communication containing a threat to injure the person of another, was first reported by Bloomberg Law on August 16.
The 48-year-old Alvin, Texas, resident, who also goes by Abby Shry, also threatened U.S. Representative Sheila Jackson Lee, a Democrat from Texas, “all Democrats in Washington D.C.” and the LGBTQ+ community, according to the criminal complaint.
Shry was ordered detained by U.S. Magistrate Judge Sam Sheldon after an August 14 hearing in the Southern District of Texas federal court in Houston, court records show. A bond hearing is scheduled for September 13 in Houston, records show.
Chutkan is overseeing the conspiracy case brought by special counsel Jack Smith in D.C. federal court. Chutkan was assigned to the case after Trump was indicted in August, and the former president has posted on social media about her, calling her “very biased and unfair,” saying “there is no way I can get a fair trial” with her.
In a court filing, Chutkan said to Trump’s attorneys, “I caution you and your client to take special care in your public statements in this case. I will take whatever measures are necessary to protect the integrity of these proceedings.”
Here’s what you need to know about Abigail Shry:
1. Abigail Jo Shry Said in a Call to Judge Chutkan’s Office, ‘If Trump Doesn’t Get Elected in 2024, We Are Coming to Kill You, So Tread Lightly, B****,’ the FBI Says
DC CourtsJudge Tanya Chutkan
According to the criminal complaint, a woman identified by investigators as Abigail Jo Shry called Chutkan’s chambers in Washington, D.C., on August 5 and left a voicemail. The message started with, “Hey you stupid slave n*****,” the FBI said.
The caller “threatened to kill anyone who went after former President Trump, including a direct threat to kill Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee, all Democrats in Washington D.C. and people in the LGBTQ community,” the FBI wrote in the complaint. Both Chutkan and Lee are Black.
According to the complaint, Shry said in the message, “You are in our sights, we want to kill you,” and added, “If Trump doesn’t get elected in 2024, we are coming to kill you, so tread lightly, b****.” Shry added, “You will be targeted personally, publicly, your family, all of it,” according to the complaint.
2. Shry Said If Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee Came to Alvin the FBI Would ‘Need to Worry,’ According to the Complaint
Jemal Countess/GettyRepresentative Sheila Jackson Lee.
The FBI used the phone number to trace the call to a phone owned by Shry, according to the complaint. On August 8, FBI agents went to Shry’s home in Alvin, Texas, and she admitted the phone belonged to her and that she had made the call, according to the complaint.
The FBI said that Shry, who also said in the call, “We want to kill Sheila Jackson Lee,” told the agents she had no plans to travel to Washington or to Houston, where Lee is from, “to carry out anything she stated,” according to the complaint.
The FBI wrote that Shry added, “If Sheila Jackson Lee comes to Alvin, then we need to worry.”
3. Abigail Shry’s Father Testified During Her Detention Hearing That She Is a ‘Non-Violent Alcoholic’ Who ‘Sits on Her Couch Daily Watching the News While Drinking Too Many Beers’
According to court documents, Sheldon ordered Shry held pending a bail hearing because of the weight of the evidence against her, her prior criminal history, her participation in criminal activity while on probation, parole or supervision, her history of alcohol or substance abuse, her lack of stable employment, her lack of a stable residence and prior violations of probation, parole or supervised release.
In a court filing, Sheldon wrote that Shry “suffers from depression and has a long history of substance abuse. She denies using any illegal substances for the past year. However, according to the defendant’s father, she excessively drinks beer daily. Defendant lives with her boyfriend, but he is presently charged with a family assault against her. Defendant has two children, ages 17 and 19, who currently live with her parents.”
Her father, Mark Shry, testified at her detention hearing and said his daughter is a “non-violent alcoholic,” according to the court filing. Sheldon wrote that Mark Shry testified “that she sits on her couch daily watching the news while drinking too many beers. She then becomes agitated by the news and starts calling people and threatening them.”
Her father said “his daughter never leaves her residence and therefore would not act upon her threats,” Sheldon wrote. Mark Shry volunteered to let her daughter live with him and her mother and to serve as a third-party custodian, according to the court filing.
4. Abby Shry Was Arrested in 2022 on Public Intoxication, Resisting Arrest & Drug Charges
Sheldon wrote in the filing that Abby Shry has been “criminally charged four times in the past year for engaging in similar conduct.” She was convicted in September 2022 in two cases, misdemeanor resisting arrest and misdemeanor criminal mischief and was sentenced to 30 days in jail.
Sheldon added, “Recently, on July 11, 2023, she was charged with misdemeanor threat causing fear of imminent serious bodily injury.” The judge said that Shry is accused of making the threats against Chutkan and Lee while on bond in the July 2023 case, less than a month after her arrest.
In the court filing, Sheldon wrote, “Defendant’s aggressive and threatening behavior has continually escalated during the past year as evidenced by her criminal conduct in four separate cases. She advised U.S. Probation that she is not interested in receiving any substance abuse or mental health services.”
The judge added, “To the contrary, the court strongly believes that the defendant needs to receive inpatient substance abuse therapy and mental health treatment. These services, however, will not be effective unless defendant truly wishes to receive them.”
5. Shry Posted a Meme on Facebook in 2021 Saying ‘Welcome to Texas: Please Spay or Neuter Your Liberal Relatives’ & Called Herself ‘Bat S*** Crazy’ & ‘Firmly Planted in the MAGA Camp’
According to her Facebook page, Shry was born in Alvin, Texas, where she still lives. In her Facebook intro section she wrote, “God forgive me.”
In March 2021, Shry updated her cover photo on her Facebook page to a meme that says, “Welcome to Texas: Please spay or neuter your liberal relatives.”
On August 3, 2023, in reply to a friend, Shry wrote on Facebook, “I’m bat s*** crazy now…i thought Obama was the antichrist & i thought covid was funded by Obama…i was silenced & called racist & phobic of whatever & for 2 yrs i went crazy under the guise of trust science..i do not trust science or any lunacy of Democrat govt… I’m firmly planted in the MAGA camp as i hv been since 2015.
In another reply in the thread, Shry wrote, ” i am crazy… I’m a terroristic threat to Austin, Tx… I’m out on bond for it… at worst it was an empty threat… at best I’m a snitch & they owe me a check… communist aren’t the brightest among us. … hmmm Soros funded da’s in Travis, Bexar & Fort bend county.. hmmm bill gates cricket farm in Austin & Ottawa… you can’t talk about that.”