An Alabama man was sentenced on Tuesday to nearly two years in federal prison after leaving threatening voicemails for Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis over her investigation concerning former President Donald Trump.
What Happened?
According to federal prosecutors, Arthur Ray Hanson II, 63, of Huntsville, Alabama, left voicemails laced with profanity and racial slurs for Willis and Fulton County Sheriff Pat Labat.
His motivation stemmed from frustration over the 2020 election probe brought by Willis involving Trump. He made the phone calls just over a week before Trump and 18 others were indicted in Fulton County in August 2023 over their alleged efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in the state.
On Tuesday U.S. District Judge J.P. Boulee in Atlanta sentenced Hanson to serve a year and nine months in prison and must pay a $7,500 fine, followed by three years of supervised release.
This comes after Hanson had pleaded guilty to leaving the threatening phone messages. He apologized to Willis and Labat during Tuesday’s hearing.
What Did the Voicemails Say?
The voicemails surfaced in early August, a week before Trump’s indictment. Hanson warned Willis to “watch out” and “look over [her] shoulder,” suggesting harm if she pursued the Trump case.
“When you charge Trump on that fourth indictment, anytime you’re alone, be looking over your shoulder,” he said, according to the transcript.
Labat, who stated Trump would receive the same processing as any other defendant, was threatened similarly, with Hanson warning of “bad things” if Trump’s mug shot was taken.
“I’m just telling you that if you take a mug shot of the president and you’re the reason it happened, some bad (expletive)’s probably gonna happen to you,” the voice message said, according to court records.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis in court on March 1. An Alabama man was sentenced to nearly two years in federal prison after leaving threatening voicemails for Willis.
Alex Slitz-Pool/Getty Images
FBI agents traced the calls to Hanson’s cellphone. When initially questioned, he denied making the threats and said he didn’t know who Willis and Labat were, according to prosecutors in a sentencing memo.
After agents played recordings of the calls for him, he said he was angry about the Trump indictment in Fulton County and that he only meant to make Willis and Labat feel uncomfortable, adding that he would never harm them, the memo says.
While agents told Hanson to stop making threatening calls, and Hanson agreed, he later directed a separate threat at Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
What Is the Case Against Trump?
Willis indicted the former president and 18 codefendants on racketeering and other felony charges last year, based in part on the fake electors plot and Trump’s phone call asking Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to help him “find” enough votes to reverse the election result.
Four codefendants have since pleaded guilty after cutting deals with prosecutors, while Trump and the remaining codefendants have all pleaded not guilty. Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, claims that all of his legal difficulties are part of a political “witch hunt.”
Last month, Judge Scott McAfee, who is overseeing the case, dismissed two charges against Trump, ruling that Willis did not have the authority to bring charges concerning the filing of documents in federal court.
McAfee allowed eight other charges against Trump to proceed while dismissing one charge against Trump’s codefendants. Trump attorney Steve Sadow reportedly celebrated the ruling as evidence that the former president and his lawyers had “prevailed once again.”
The three charges that were dropped concerned an alleged plot to overturn President Joe Biden‘s 2020 election win in Georgia with the help of fake pro-Trump electors, as well as false claims allegedly made in a lawsuit.
The judge dismissed the charges based on the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution, which dictates that federal law takes precedence over conflicting state laws.
McAfee did not grant Trump’s request to throw out several other charges on the same basis, ruling that the indictment is not “so inseparably connected to the functioning of the national government that it is barred entirely by the Supremacy Clause.”
McAfee also rejected an attempt to dismiss the entire case due to the federal Electoral Count Act.
Meanwhile, Trump is appealing a decision by McAfee earlier this year to allow Willis to stay on the case following allegations of misconduct related to her relationship with former lead prosecutor Nathan Wade. The judge ruled that Willis could remain on the case if Wade agreed to step aside.
A Georgia appeals court is set to hear arguments in the Willis matter in December, and the underlying case will remain on hold at least until then.
This article includes reporting from The Associated Press.
