Transgender woman sentenced to over six years for plot against Treasury secretary

A transgender woman named Riley Jane English, listed in federal documents as Ryan Michael English, was sentenced to 63 months in federal prison for a plot to murder Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. English pleaded guilty to unlawful receipt and possession of a firearm and to carrying a dangerous weapon on the U.S. Capitol grounds, after telling police she intended to kill Bessent. Prosecutors, led by U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro, had sought a sentence of at least ten years, but Judge Rudolph Contreras ordered a term of six years and one month with three years of supervised release.

English had traveled from South Deerfield, Massachusetts, to Washington, D.C., carrying a folding knife, two vodka-filled Molotov cocktails, and a lighter, and initially considered other officials as targets. The sentencing underscores the Justice Department’s stance on protecting government officials from intimidation and the debate over mental-health considerations for transgender defendants.