Jessica Masulli Reyes, and Saranac Hale Spencer

The News Journal

A federal judge holds an "emergency" sentencing at a Philadelphia hospital for Lenore Matusiewicz.

The state had requested the maximum sentence of life in prison for cyberstalking resulting in the death of her ex-daughter-in-law.

The judge says the emergency sentencing was "necessary to ensure she receives essential medical care."

Lenore Matusiewicz continued to spew hatred for her deceased ex-daughter-in-law even as a federal judge sentenced the ailing 70-year-old woman while standing at her bedside in a Philadelphia hospital on Friday.

At a highly unusual last-minute, emergency hearing on Friday afternoon, the judge sentenced Matusiewicz to life in prison – making her the first person in the United States to be convicted and sentenced for cyberstalking resulting in death.

"Even the lightest sentence I could impose on Mrs. Matusiewicz, due to her age and current medical condition, would for all practical purposes amount to a life sentence," U.S. District Court Judge Gerald Austin McHugh said in an audio recording of the closed sentencing.

Matusiewicz's husband, Thomas, shot and killed their ex-daughter-in-law Christine Belford and her friend “Beth” Mulford, as the two walked into the courthouse lobby for a child support hearing with David Matusiewicz on Feb. 11, 2013. Thomas exchanged gunfire with police before killing himself.

The government accused Lenore Matusiewicz and her children – Newark optometrist David Matusiewicz and nurse Amy Gonzalez – of waging a vicious three-year campaign to harass, torment, stalk and spy on Belford and the couple’s three daughters.

The government claimed the intent was always to gain custody of the girls – whether it be when Lenore and David Matusiewicz kidnapped them to Central America in 2007 or when Belford was killed in the lobby of the courthouse.

Following a five-week trial in U.S. District Court in Delaware, the three were convicted in July of various charges, including cyberstalking, interstate stalking and conspiracy. The state had requested the maximum sentence of life in prison.

Belford's shooting death at courthouse shown on video

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All three were scheduled to be sentenced next Thursday in Wilmington, but a week before the sentencing, federal prosecutors and Lenore Matusiewicz's defense attorney requested an expedited sentencing.

Seeing no possible way to transfer her to a public courtroom, McHugh ordered a closed sentencing Friday as Lenore Matusiewicz's medical condition deteriorated. Her exact illness is unknown.

“It’s pretty unusual,” said Judith Ritter, a professor at Delaware Law School, of the last-minute advance for Lenore Matusiewicz’s sentencing date.

If she is terminally ill, then it wouldn’t seem crucial to have her sentenced unless there were victims who needed closure, she said.

Lenore Matusiewicz has been at the Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia since she was transferred from the Federal Detention Center on Jan. 31.

"The physicians caring for Mrs. Matusiewicz there have certified to the court that she has serious medical needs," McHugh wrote in a press release Friday. "Those needs cannot be met by the Federal Detention Center in Philadelphia, and her prompt transfer to an appropriate facility administered by the Federal Bureau of Prisons is necessary."

The sentencing was brief, lasting only about 20 minutes, and the judge and attorneys skipped various steps that are commonly part of a sentencing.

"There is a lot of legal things that would be very important if you were not as ill as you are," McHugh said. "Because obviously right now you have a medical crisis on your hands, correct?"

Lenore Matusiewicz responded: "That is what they tell me."

Court papers show Matusiewicz 'hit list'

A national first: Cyberstalking resulting in death

During the brief proceeding, the judge gave Lenore Matusiewicz an opportunity to speak. While breathing heavily, she placed the blame for Belford's death on her husband, saying she didn't know about his plan.

"My husband said I was too good, and he had to find away to bring me down or make me look bad or whatever," she said. "He said he was going to find away to do that. Obviously, he did."

She continued, saying that she and Thomas hated Belford.

"He hated the fact that Christine didn't love David – that she only loved his money and that she didn't love their children," she said. "He and I both believe that children were gifts from God, and if you get a gift from God, you love them. She didn't love them."

But as Lenore Matusiewicz began to accuse Belford of abuse, the judge interrupted her, saying that was outside the scope of the sentencing.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Jamie M. McCall also responded, defending Belford's parenting.

"It's our position that through this case, Christine Belford loved her children, took excellent care of her children and was an excellent mother who did not deserve the fate she found herself," he said.

Lenore Matusiewicz ended by asking that she be given a Catholic blessing when she dies.

McHugh quickly issued the life sentence and ordered her to pay $24,980 in restitution.

Lenore Matusiewicz's attorney Kenneth Edelin said he would appeal the sentence within 14 days. Edelin did not return a call seeking comment Friday.

David Matusiewicz and Gonzalez are still scheduled for sentencing in Delaware on Thursday. The government will seek life sentences for both.

In recent court filings, David Matusiewicz asked the court to give him a sentence at the low end of the spectrum. He has asked for 33 months, which, the prosecution pointed out in its response, is 15 months shorter than the sentence he was given following his kidnapping trial.

David and Lenore Matusiewicz both pleaded guilty for kidnapping the three girls in 2007, leading to a year-and-a-half international manhunt before they were found in a mobile home in the tiny Nicaraguan village of Catalina. The shooting occurred six months after David Matusiewicz was released from prison.

His plea to the court for a light sentence paints his father as a cold and distant figure throughout David Matusiewicz’s young life and distances Thomas Matusiewicz from the rest of the family. The 63-page document also includes a three-page section labeled “David’s mental health,” which is completely redacted.

Although the prosecution argues that he has shown no remorse for Belford’s death, his sentencing memorandum said: “David is remorseful for the circumstances of his prior conviction, and sorry for his father’s actions on the day of the courthouse shooting. He maintains, however, that he did not know that his father would commit this tragic act.”

Gonzalez also is requesting a lighter sentence. Her attorney, Jeremy Gonzalez Ibrahim, wrote that she has no prior record and is a loving mother.

“Notwithstanding her lack of nurses license, Amy Gonzlaez remains a smart and caring individual who remains committed to supporting her husband and daughter, as she did single handedly working 60 to 80 hours per week as a nurse," he said.

The government, however, called Gonzalez the "propaganda director" behind the harassment campaign.

"She utilized websites, social media, emails and letters to spread false accusations of child abuse and sexual misconduct against Christine to the public," government attorneys wrote. “Indeed, only a life sentence will keep Christine Belford’s three girls – and those people that care for them – safe, and give them the peace of mind they need to recover from these traumatic events.”

Contact Jessica Masulli Reyes at (302) 324-2777, jmreyes@delawareonline.com or Twitter @JessicaMasulli. Contact Saranac Hale Spencer at (302) 324-2909 or sspencer@delawareonline.com.