Threat to Kill U.S. Judge Leads to Charges for New Jersey Man

A New Jersey man was arrested and charged with allegedly threatening to assault and kill a U.S. district court judge, according to federal prosecutors.

New Jersey resident Jonathan D. Williams, 46, called a judge in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey and made threatening comments to court employees and two security guards, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey said in a statement Wednesday.

Prosecutors said Williams called the judge at least two times on Nov. 1 about a civil lawsuit he filed that was before the judge. The prosecutors said Williams wanted to get the case before a jury quickly.

In a subsequent phone call to the chambers, prosecutors quote Williams saying to one of the judge’s law clerks: “Before the snow starts falling on my head, I’m gonna put a bullet in the Judge’s brain . . . he’s a scumbag.”

Williams later “directed sexually-explicit, profane, and racially-disparaging remarks at that employee” on a call with a court employee in the judge’s chambers that members of the U.S. Marshals Service were listening to, prosecutors said.

On Nov. 2, prosecutors said Williams came to a law office in Newark, New Jersey where he was denied entry. He identified himself to the security guards as “Jonathan Williams” and told them he was “going to blow the judge’s brains out,” which he repeated before leaving, prosecutors said. The statement didn’t explain why Williams was at the law office.

The judge was not named in the prosecutors’ statement. The prosecutors also noted that the allegations in the complaint are accusations, and Williams is presumed innocent until proven guilty.

The new charges and arrest come after an attack on the family of judge in the same court last year. In July 2020, the son of District of New Jersey Judge Esther Salas was shot and killed by a gunman at at their family home.

Salas and the federal judiciary have since called for enhanced safety measures for judges, including shielding their personal information, such as addresses, from being shared online. A bill (S.2340 and H.R. 4436) in Congress named for Salas’ son that includes those changes has yet to advance.

Threats and security concerns for the judiciary are on the rise, the judiciary has said. According to U.S. Marshals Service data, threats and other inappropriate communications against personnel increased from 926 in 2015 to 4,261 in 2020.

Williams was scheduled to have his initial appearance in court Thursday, before U.S. Magistrate Judge Edward S. Kiel. Threatening to assault and kill a federal judge has a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a maximum $250,000 fine.