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Saturday, May 18, 2024
U.S. v. STEPHEN JAY THORN Guilty Plea: Judge Wendy Berger Was Threatened With Death. (Reuters/Huffington Post)
Thanks to our U.S. Marshals and U.S. Attorney for winning a guilty plea in this case. Ordinarily, it's knuckle-dragging right-wingers who make threats aginst federal judges. This time, it's an angry retired teacher offended by Judge Wendy Leigh Williams Berger's dismissal of a civil case involving one of Florida's anti-LGBTQ+ laws. Defendant STEPHEN JAY THORN left threatening messages of a stalking nature, saying that Judge Berger was insensitive. Coming from a man threatening to kill a federal judge and her family, that is, at best, facetious. Judge Berger was appointed by President Donald John Trump and confirmed by the Senate on a vote of 55-37. Before that, Judge Berger was an extradition/execution counsel for Florida Governor John Edward "Jeb" Bush, a local prosecutor in the Seventh Judicial Circuit under Ralph Joseph Larizza in St. Johns County, a Florida Fifth District Court of Appeals judge appointed by Governor Richard Lynn Scott. Since 2019, appointed by President TRUMP, Judge Berger''s been a U.S. District Court Judge. She's not the only federal judge in Florida threatened and intimidated -- one federal judge narrowly missed gunfire in his home. Threats on our elected officials must be exposed and extirpated. From USDOJ, Reuters and Huffintgon Post in re: United States v. STEPHEN JAY THORN, Middle District of Florida case No. 8:23-cr-00361.
From USDOJ:
Pensacola Man Pleads Guilty To Threatening To Kill A Federal Judge
For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, Middle District of Florida
Tampa, Florida –United States Attorney Roger B. Handberg announces that Stephen Jay Thorn (66, Pensacola) has pleaded guilty to interstate transmission of a threat to injure a Federal District Court Judge. Thorn faces a maximum penalty of five years in federal prison. A sentencing date has not yet been set.
According to court documents, on October 24, 2022, Thorn, unhappy with a judicial opinion that he had read about online, made an interstate telephone call to the District Court Judge’s chambers. Thorn left a vulgar, obscenity-laden voicemail threatening to harm the judge as well as members of the judge’s immediate family.
This case was investigated by the United States Marshals Service. It is being prosecuted by Special Assistant United States Attorney Joe Wheeler III.
Updated May 16, 2024
From Reuters:
Retired teacher admits to threatening Florida judge in LGBTQ education case
Now-U.S. District Judge Wendy Berger appears before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee for a hearing on her nomination to the bench on Oct. 17, 2018. U.S. Senate/Handout via REUTERS Purchase Licensing Rights, opens new tab
May 17 (Reuters) - A retired teacher has pleaded guilty to threatening in obscenity-filled voicemails to harm a federal judge in Florida who had rejected a challenge to the state's so-called "don't say gay" law restricting classroom discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity.
Stephen Thorn, 66, pleaded guilty earlier this week in federal court in Tampa to a single threat charge related to five voice mails he left on Oct. 24, 2022 with the judge's chambers in Orlando after he read a news story about a ruling she issued, prosecutors said on Thursday.
He faces up to five years in prison. A defense lawyer did not respond to a request for comment.
The prosecution comes amid a sharp rise in threats to federal judges nationally. Serious threats against federal judges rose to 457 in fiscal year 2023, which ended on Sept. 30, from 224 in fiscal 2021, the U.S. Marshals Service says.
A Reuters investigation has documented how many of those threats were directed at judges who have been criticized by Republican former President Donald Trump after ruling against his interests in cases they were hearing.
He faces up to five years in prison. A defense lawyer did not respond to a request for comment.
The prosecution comes amid a sharp rise in threats to federal judges nationally. Serious threats against federal judges rose to 457 in fiscal year 2023, which ended on Sept. 30, from 224 in fiscal 2021, the U.S. Marshals Service says.
A Reuters investigation has documented how many of those threats were directed at judges who have been criticized by Republican former President Donald Trump after ruling against his interests in cases they were hearing.
Berger in that ruling, opens new tab dismissed a lawsuit by LGBTQ students, their families and civil rights groups seeking to stop the Florida measure from being implemented after Republican Governor Ron DeSantis signed it into law earlier that year.
The Florida measure, formally called the Parental Rights in Education Act, bars classroom instruction in public schools on sexual orientation or gender identity for children in kindergarten through third grade, or from about ages 5-9.
It also prohibits such teaching that "is not age appropriate or developmentally appropriate" for students in other grades.
"You're just showing your true colors, playing to Trump who appointed you and to DeSantis," Thorn said in one voice mail, according to his plea agreement.
In his voice mails, Thorn said the judge had no idea what LGBTQ children go through and was "basically giving a green light for them to be thought of as second-class citizens and bullied."
Thorn said he had looked up where the judge, her husband and two children lived and said the judge was "very easy to track."
"Let's see how you would like it if somebody endangered your children in school or your grandchildren in school," Thorn said in one of his calls. "You are an embarrassment to the judicial system."
Berger did not respond to a request for comment.
Florida in March reached a settlement in related litigation over its law that grants teachers freedom to discuss sexual orientation and gender identity while also shielding the youngest students from those topics.
The case is U.S. v. Thorn, U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida, No. 8:23-cr-00361.
For the United States: Joseph Wheeler of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Florida
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