Toronto Woman Gets One Additional Day in Jail for Antisemitic Threat Against Crown Attorney

A Toronto woman convicted of making an antisemitic threat against a Jewish Crown attorney inside a downtown courthouse has been sentenced to one additional day in jail and 18 months of probation, after a judge concluded that serious mental-health issues substantially reduced her moral blameworthiness.

Keiosha Ross, 42, was convicted earlier this year of uttering a threat to cause bodily harm following an incident involving Crown attorney Marnie Goldenberg at the Ontario Court of Justice courthouse at 10 Armoury Street.

The two women were strangers when they found themselves in a crowded courthouse elevator in December 2024. According to evidence accepted by the court, Ross threatened to cut off Goldenberg’s “big Jewish nose.” The encounter was unprovoked.

Ontario Court Justice Jason Little described the comment as “unquestionably antisemitic.”

Ross represented herself at her trial in March. She acknowledged making the remark about Goldenberg’s nose, but claimed she was of “Jewish heritage” and said she had intended the comment as a joke. She also apologized.

Crown Sought Six Months Behind Bars
The Crown had asked that Ross receive six months in jail followed by probation, arguing that a non-custodial sentence would be inappropriate.

Instead, Justice Little sentenced Ross to one further day in custody, in addition to 12 days of credit for time she had already spent in pre-sentence custody following her December 2024 arrest.

Ross will also be subject to 18 months of probation, including a requirement to participate in counselling as directed by her probation officer.

The judge acknowledged that the sentence could be perceived as minimizing the seriousness of antisemitism, but explicitly rejected that interpretation.

“The person before me is a person who committed a hate-motivated offence, but who is profoundly unwell,” Little said. “Both realities are true, and neither can be ignored.”

He added that the sentence “should not be mistaken as softness on hate crimes directed at the Jewish community or any other community.”

Little concluded that Ross’s perception of reality was significantly distorted by mental illness and that this reduced her degree of moral responsibility for the offence.

Sentencing Hearing Took Another Dramatic Turn
The case had already attracted attention after Ross’s sentencing was unexpectedly interrupted last week.

Ross was arrested on allegations that she exposed herself during the proceedings — reportedly once in the courtroom and again in a courthouse hallway — leading to the sentencing decision being postponed. Those allegations have not been proven in court.

Her conduct during the proceedings was also highly unusual. According to the Toronto Star, Ross repeatedly interrupted the hearing and made bizarre statements to the judge. At one point, she accused Justice Little of entering the courtroom “with a school of Jewish kids under your robe.”

Several Jewish community organizations submitted a Community Impact Statement in the case addressing the broader impact of antisemitism.

Ross was already back in custody awaiting a bail hearing in connection with the separate indecent-exposure allegations when Justice Little delivered his sentence by Zoom.