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N.Y. man sentenced to 18 months in prison for threatening to kill Flynn case judge

20 July 2021
Dan Ackermann

A New York man was sentenced to 18 months in prison on Monday for threatening to kill the judge overseeing the criminal case against Trump administration national security adviser Michael Flynn, per the Washington Post.

Driving the news: Frank Caporusso pleaded guilty last April to leaving a threatening message in May 2020 on the voice mailbox of U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan over Flynn's case.

  • "We are trained military people. We will be on rooftops. You will not be safe," the electronics salesman said in the voicemail to Sullivan's chambers, according to WashPost.
  • "A hot piece of lead will cut through your skull. We'll start cutting down your staff. This is not a threat. This is a promise."

Why it matters: Threats to federal judges have increased 400% in the past five years. U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden pointed to this spike in his sentencing remarks as he noted the threat would have caused "significant harm" to Sullivan and his staff, per Politico.

  • Sullivan wrote in his victim statement that the threat "added to the cloud of concern hovering over judges nationwide as we preside over courtrooms where civility and respect for the rule of law seem to erode by the day," WashPost notes.

What else he's saying: While McFadden said he didn't believe Caporusso would carry out the threat, he described it as "despicable" and "calculated to instill a maximum amount of fear."

  • McFadden noted that the threat was "intended to subvert the criminal justice system by intimidating" Sullivan "against continuing to preside over a high-profile case."
  • "It was nothing less than an attack on our system of government," McFadden added, calling a Sullivan a "patriot," who "did not deserve this." "He certainly does not deserve to live in fear because of your actions," McFadded said.

Of note: Caporusso's plea to one count of one count of influencing, impeding, or retaliating against a federal official by threat came five months after then-President Trump pardoned Flynn — who pleaded guilty in 2017 as part of the Mueller investigation to lying to the FBI about his Russia contacts.

Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times

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Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.

Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.

The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.

  • The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.

What the transcripts say:

  • Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
  • The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
  • Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."

Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.