Nevada man accused of leveling death threats at judges in DC, NY

A Nevada man accused of sending blunt death threats to federal judges, state officials and a member of Congress over the past eight months — a torrent of vitriol one prosecutor likened to “the Holocaust” — was ordered detained pending trial Tuesday by a magistrate judge who agreed the suspect was too dangerous to remain free.

The startling criminal case unveiled this week against Spencer Gear, 32, is a stark illustration of the atmosphere of threats enveloping the federal judiciary, as well as for state judges and other officials handling cases against former President Donald Trump.

Prosecutors say Gear targeted five federal judges in Washington, D.C. He’s also accused of threatening U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan, who oversaw two civil trials against Trump in suits brought by a writer accusing him of sexual assault, and New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan, who recently presided over Trump’s criminal hush money trial in Manhattan.

Gear is accused of an extraordinary spree of violent threats and misogynistic profanity. Prosecutors say he left voicemail messages accusing the officials of corruption and declaring that they would soon be executed.

“This defendant is a ticking time bomb,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Jacob Operskalski said at a bail hearing for Gear in Las Vegas on Tuesday. “His words are reminiscent of the Holocaust as he dehumanizes his victims, calling them filth, calling them trash.”

Operskalski said many of Gear’s messages were replete with “violent misogyny” and included a message to a federal judge repeatedly disparaging her for her gender and culminating in a threat.

“You are a woman. You have to have men do things for you …You can't do shit to Donald Trump unless you send a man to do it,” Gear said in the message, according to the prosecutor. “If you keep trying to fight this war against liberty, you will be dead.”

Operskalski did not identify any of the targets of Gear’s threats by name in court Wednesday, and the 22-count indictment references them by their initials. However, they include five district court judges in Washington — Beryl Howell, Reggie Walton, Christopher Cooper, Jia Cobb and Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, according to a person familiar with the case who was granted anonymity to discuss the sensitive matter.

All of the district court judges cited have handled criminal cases stemming from the violent attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

Operskalski also played aloud in court one of the messages Gear is accused of leaving: a June 3, 2024, threat directed to Merchan and the prosecutor who brought the hush money case against Trump, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.

“The Constitution will reign supreme when we start executing filth like you. You are a dead man,” the caller says before complaining about officials taking “hundreds of millions of dollars to politically persecute the president of the United States.”

During the bail hearing, the prosecutor said that when a SWAT team was sent to arrest Gear at his Las Vegas home Tuesday, he grabbed a drone the FBI flew into his house and tossed it out the window.

Operskalski called Gear a “domestic terrorist” and said the assassination attempt on Trump earlier this month was a vivid example of the risk posed by allowing people like Gear to remain free.

“We're … less than two weeks out from an assassination attempt on the Republican candidate for president,” the prosecutor said, according to audio of the session. “Although this is a far-right extremist, it's an example of what could happen if we let a person like Mr. Gear out of custody when he has told us exactly what he is going to do. We should take him at his word.”

Defense attorney Jeremy Baron said there was no indication that Gear had taken any steps to actually carry out any of the alleged threats.

“The statements are potentially concerning. They are, however, just statements. There's no indication that there was any actual, concrete plans tied to those statements,” Baron said.

The defense lawyer also claimed it’s now common for people to make extreme comments about politics without having any intention of backing them up. “It is a heated political climate right now. And I think there are many people who make statements on the internet, or over the phones, behind the cover of anonymity when that doesn't actually reflect how their behavior would be,” Baron said.

Magistrate Judge Brenda Weksler sided with prosecutors, ordering Gear detained based on his dangerousness. She said Gear, who sounded calm when speaking with the judge at the outset of the hearing, seemed to be in some sort of “altered state” when ranting on the calls that led to the indictment.

“It does not even seem possible the person that's sitting here before me is the same person that left those messages,” she said, adding that she doubted he would abide by any release conditions. “I also am concerned by the fact that he does not seem to respect the judicial system or have respect for judges.”

The court set a Sept. 24 trial date for Gear.

A spokesperson for the U.S. Marshals Service, Barry Lane, declined to address the specific case but said threats against federal judges have surged in recent years, up from 224 in fiscal 2021 to 457 in 2023.

“Threats against the judiciary is a threat against our democracy,” Lane said. “The U.S. Marshals Service has increased judicial security units in our 94 districts, we have created a unit that tracks threats and communication concerns on various social media platforms, and we’ve increased the amount of training for deputies to conduct protective investigations.”

Attorney General Merrick Garland issued a statement Tuesday highlighting Gear’s case and declaring that the Justice Department is aggressively pursuing all criminal intimidation of public officials.

“The citizens we rely on to serve the public must be able to do their jobs without fearing for their lives,” said Garland. “The Justice Department has no tolerance for acts and threats of violence targeting public servants, and we will stop at nothing to find and bring to justice those responsible.”