“Serious Consequences!” 4-Year Jail Term For Prisoner’s Threats Against Harris, Obama, and DeSantis
DEBARYLIFE – After admitting to sending more murder threats against high-ranking politicians, a man serving a four-year sentence in federal prison for threatening to kill previous presidents was given an extra four years in jail on Monday.
Federal prosecutors stated that Stephen Boykin attempted to mail letters containing death threats to First Lady Michelle Obama, former President Barack Obama, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, Vice President Kamala Harris, and former President Barack Obama in June, but the letters were intercepted by prison staff.
Boykin acknowledged, according to the prosecution, that he intended to follow through on his threats after he was released from prison.
“What the other has scheduled will indeed occur. This doesn’t have any ifs or buts. The way my father always wanted it to finish is how it will end. Destruction. Court documents state that Boykin wrote in a single letter.
Threats against a number of groups, including government officials, jurors, and minority groups, have increased in recent months, coinciding with Monday’s sentencing. Attorney General Merrick Garland most recently issued an alarming increase of threats against election workers on Monday.
According to data provided to USA TODAY by the National Counterterrorism Innovation, Technology, and Education Centre at the Universities of Nebraska, Omaha, and Chapman University, the number of federal convictions for making threats against the public reached a record high last year.
From jail, Boykin attempted to send threats. An affidavit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia states that during Boykin’s attempt to mail letters in June, prison staff discovered multiple threats.
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In court records, Boykin stated that he intended to “take matters into my own hands” and “finish what I started” by traveling to Washington, D.C. The document claimed he listed DeSantis and Harris as “candidates” he would target and declared he would “get rid of” his opponents to guarantee President Joe Biden wins the next election.
A supposed Assistant U.S. Attorney in South Carolina, the state where Boykin was last charged, was also threatened in other messages.
Boykin wrote a letter to a “Maxwell Caution,” whom he identified as a prosecutor, stating, “I am writing to let you know I will be home soon to finally get mine and the other revenge.” “I [guess] you can call yourself the walking dead ’cause that’s basically what you are.”
Boykin received a 10-year jail sentence in March 2009 for sending murder threats against Obama, former Vice President Dick Cheney, and former President George W. Bush to the White House, according to court documents.
An increase in threats against elected officials with violence
In recent years, threats against juries, government officials, and members of minority religious and racial groups have increased nationwide.
A Florida man who admitted to phoning the US Supreme Court and making threats to assassinate Chief Justice John Roberts was given a 14-month jail sentence last month. Significant threats against federal judges increased to 457 in fiscal year 2023 from 224 in fiscal 2021, according to the Marshals Service.
When the Pittsburgh Tree of Life synagogue shooting trial took place in September—the deadliest antisemitic act in American history—the self-described leader of a white supremacist organization entered a guilty plea and acknowledged threatening jurors and witnesses.
After threatening to assassinate the Black judge in charge of federal charges against former president Donald Trump, who was suspected of attempting to rig the 2020 election, a Texas lady was detained and charged with a crime last year.