Arthur Ray Hanson II, a man from Alabama, was sentenced to one year and nine months in prison for threatening a sheriff and a district attorney in Georgia over the jail mug shot of former President Donald Trump. Hanson made threatening voicemails to Fulton County Sheriff Pat Labat and District Attorney Fani Willis after Trump was booked into jail in August 2023. He warned that if they took Trump’s mugshot, bad things would happen to them and they should be afraid if he was indicted. Hanson used racial slurs in the voicemails and expressed support for the South winning the Civil War.
Hanson pleaded guilty to transmitting interstate threats, also citing his intoxication and bipolar disorder as factors in his actions. In addition to the prison sentence, he will be on supervised release for three years and was fined $7,500. He expressed remorse for his actions, stating that he is a hard-working insurance broker who has taken responsibility for his behavior.
Prosecutors revealed that Hanson had made other threatening calls, including one to a New Jersey Department of Homeland Security tip line where he suggested hanging U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. The FBI had previously warned him to stop making threats after his voicemails to Labat and Willis. Threats against public servants are considered illegal and an attack on the democratic process, according to the FBI.
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