TOO FAR

New Mexico Judge Sarah Backus Gets Death Threats for Giving Bail to Muslim Compound Suspects

One defendant taken into custody by ICE.

A New Mexico judge who granted bail to five Muslim suspects charged with child abuse and accused of training children to carry out school-shooting attacks from their remote compound has received death threats and Islamophobic abuse. The case, which has shocked the state, saw cops discover 11 malnourished kids and the body of a toddler after a tip-off. Judge Sarah Backus ruled Tuesday that the evidence was “troubling and unusual” but didn’t prove the defendants were a threat to society if they were released on bail and wore ankle devices for house arrest. According to New Mexico court spokesman Barry Massey, one caller told Backus “her throat would be slit,” another said he wished “someone would smash her head,” and another called her a “Islamic terrorism sympathizer.” Meanwhile, one defendant, Jany Leveille, has reportedly been taken into custody by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.