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Cleveland civil rights attorney says she received death threat after TV appearance

Message warned 'watch your back'
Posted at 4:52 PM, Sep 29, 2020
and last updated 2020-09-30 12:29:02-04

SOLON, Ohio — A prominent Cleveland civil rights attorney said she received a death threat just minutes after she appeared as part of a panel on Fox News.

Ashlie Case Sletvold was one of five women interviewed during a segment about suburban women voters ahead of next month's presidential election.

Minutes after the story aired Monday night, Case Sletvold said she received a text message from an unknown sender.

Much of the message was obscene in nature, but it warned the mother of three to "watch your back" and said "you can run but you cannot hide." It ended with the words, "bye-bye."

The message, shared with 5 On Your Side Investigators, did not reference any specific part of the eight-minute segment featuring Case Sletvold.

The attorney and her husband filed a report with Solon police.

Case Sletvold said Tuesday that she hoped the threat is not real, but insisted she won't be intimidated.

She said she was disappointed that someone would attack her for sharing her views as part of the panel.

"I hope it’s someone exercising some keyboard courage," said Case Sletvold. "Certainly no one in real life is going to walk up to you and say something like that. This is a function of some of the way social media has changed our lives, I think. I find it kind of jarring when you see that kind of response to something that you say from your heart."

Solon police said the department has increased patrols around the attorney's home in response to the threat.