By James Myers, OAN Staff
Thursday, September 19, 2024 10:15 AM
An Alaska man has been indicted on charges of making serious threats against six Supreme Court justices, including threats to assassinate them, according to the Department of Justice (DOJ).
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Prosecutors allege Panos Anastasio, 76, sent an estimated 450 messages to six judges and two of their family members in March 2023. The messages were sent through an online portal and contained racist, violent and homophobic language, according to court documents.
According to the Justice Department, the 76-year-old man had threatened to assassinate, kidnap, torture, behead and execute judges, and had encouraged others to join in the threats.
The Alaska native has been charged with nine counts of threatening a federal judge and 13 counts of threatening in interstate commerce, while Anastasio appeared before a federal magistrate judge on Wednesday and pleaded not guilty.
“We allege that the defendant made repeated heinous threats to kill and torture the Supreme Court justice and his family in retaliation for a ruling he disagreed with,” Attorney General Merrick Garland, a former federal appeals court judge, said in a statement. “Our justice system depends on the ability of judges to rule based on the law, not fear. Our democracy depends on public servants' ability to do their jobs without fear for the safety of their lives or their families.”
The indictment does not name any specific judges, referring only to “Supreme Court Justices 1 to 6.” It says some of Anastaiu's alleged threats were intended to “intimidate” the judges and “retaliate for official actions” they took in their positions on the bench.
Additionally, court documents say the messages were sent between January and July, after the Supreme Court's term ended.
In a message sent on January 4thNumberAnastasio allegedly threatened to kill one of the judges by “providing a rope to hang him from an oak tree.”
Meanwhile, the safety of federal judges has become a major issue in recent years, with the Supreme Court receiving increasing threats. In 2022, 26-year-old Nicholas Roethke was arrested and admitted to plotting to assassinate Justice Brett Kavanaugh. Roethke has pleaded not guilty.
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