DOJ Filed Brief In Support Of Trans Inmate Who Sent Bomb To The DOJ
Authored by Ken Silva via Headline USA,
Headline USA has uncovered the identity of an anonymous Georgia prison inmate suing the state for a sex change, and can reveal that the plaintiff is a convicted violent sodomizer who was indicted in April on multiple federal charges for constructing and mailing bombs to federal facilities.
The plaintiff, David Cassady, 55, an inmate at Phillips State Prison in Georgia, is represented by the big law firm Baker Botts, as well as the Murell Law Firm and the Florida-based group Rights Behind Bars. Additionally, the ACLU and the Justice Department have filed amicus briefs in support of Cassady’s lawsuit.
Ironically, the DOJ filed its brief in support of Cassady in January, while the inmate was presumably still under DOJ investigation for alleged bomb-making. Even more ironically, the inmate was under investigation for sending a bomb to 1400 New York Avenue NW in Washington, D.C.—a building that houses a DOJ office.
🚨EXCLUSIVE🚨Headline USA has identified the anonymous transgender inmate supported by the DOJ and ACLU in a sex-change lawsuit against Georgia's prison system. Ironically, the inmate was recently charged for sending a bomb to the DOJ
— Headline USA (@HeadlineUSA) July 11, 2024
In other words, the DOJ filed an amicus… pic.twitter.com/9kMhRdj02B
In other words, the DOJ filed an amicus brief in support of an inmate who apparently tried bombing the DOJ, according to the DOJ. To add a drop of stupidity, the DOJ refers to Cassady as a female in the sex-change litigation, but calls him a man in the bombing case.
The DOJ declined to comment, while the non-profit groups didn’t respond to an email inquiry. Georgia’s Department of Corrections also declined to comment, citing the pending litigation.
As Headline USA reported in May, a U.S. district judge ordered the Georgia DOC to provide Cassady—who was still anonymous at the time—with “breast and buttock padding.” That judge did deny Cassady’s motion to be transferred to a female prison, noting that the inmate was transferred to Phillips State Prison—a “Special Mission Facility”—in 2022, specifically because that facility was “uniquely situated to manage Plaintiff, given her history of violence.”
Headline USA was able to uncover Cassady’s identity thanks to a recent affidavit filed by attorney Thomas Vaseliou, one of the attorneys representing Georgia DOC.
In his affidavit filed on Wednesday, Vaseliou referenced several exhibits still under seal, including a court record of Plaintiff’s conviction in 1988 for aggravated sodomy; court record of Plaintiff’s conviction in 2020 for violation of the Street Gang Terrorism and Prevention Act; and an April 4, 2024, press release announcing the most recent indictment against the inmate. Headline USA found that April 4 press release, which identified Cassady.
“Cassady was an inmate in the now-closed Georgia State Prison in Reidsville, Ga., in Tattnall County, when he constructed destructive devices and mailed two of them via U.S. Mail to the United States Courthouse and Federal Building in Anchorage, Alaska, and to a federal facility at 1400 New York Avenue NW in Washington, D.C.,” the DOJ’s press release said, identifying Cassady as a man.
According to the DOJ’s website, 1400 New York Avenue NW is the Bond Building, where packages are sent for the DOJ’s “Fraud Section, Criminal Division.”
“The indictment alleges the bombs were sent in an attempt ‘to maliciously damage or destroy, by means of fire or explosive, a building in whole or in part owned or possessed by, or leased to, the United States,’ and ‘created substantial risk of injury to a person,’” the DOJ said in its press release.
According to the DOJ’s indictment, Cassady’s bomb-making occurred from September 2019 to January 2020. He faces one count of making an unregistered destructive device, two counts of mailing a destructive device, and one count of attempted malicious use of an explosive.
When the indictment was unsealed in April, WSB-TV in Atlanta revealed that Cassady sent a bomb to the widow of a man he sexually assaulted as a teenager.
“How is somebody who is in prison for life, for horrific acts against the community, how is possible that he can still terrorize members of the community from behind bars?” the widow reportedly said. “And now somehow, he was able to access all of this and mail it out of prison. Somebody needs to look at the bigger picture of who he is.”
Cassady has pleaded not guilty to the charges, according to the court docket. The inmate is already serving a life sentence.
Cassady isn’t the only trans bomber to receive DOJ support in a sex-change lawsuit. As Headline USA exclusively documented last year, former neo-Nazi bank robber Pete/Donna Langan, who has ties to the Oklahoma City bombing, reached a settlement with the DOJ to become the first federal inmate in history to receive a sex change.
Ken Silva is a staff writer at Headline USA. Follow him at twitter.com/jd_cashless.