Judge Shows Displeasure With Prosecutor After Veteran Charged Instead of Helped

UPDATE
Army veteran given probation for communicating threats against Fayetteville VA Hospital

Army vet who made threatening call will learn his fate Thursday
News Observer
BY MANDY LOCKE AND MARTHA QUILLIN
June 3, 2014

RALEIGH
Ryan Broderick, an Army war veteran, on Thursday will seek mercy from a federal judge who has the power to set him free.

Broderick, 31 of Fayetteville, has been in jail since January after making a threatening call to the VA for help managing his persistent Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Sleep-deprived and frustrated with the lack of care the VA had offered, Broderick threatened to shoot doctors and nurses at the VA medical center in Fayetteville if he didn’t get help.

“I was just trying to get help,” Broderick said in an interview last month. “I had no intentions of hurting anyone.”

Broderick was prepared to take his case to a jury this week. Instead, the U.S. Attorney’s office invited him to plead guilty to a misdemeanor assault charge. The deal spared Broderick the uncertainty of a possible felony conviction that would have jeopardized his service in the Army Reserves and marred his military record.
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