Alabama man who threatened Fani Williams and Atlanta sheriff over Donald Trump’s indictment sentenced to prison and heavy fine

An Alabama man who left multiple threatening voicemails for the district attorney and the Fulton County sheriff will spend greater than a yr in federal prison for the crime.

Arthur Ray Hanson II will serve one yr and seven months in prison, spend three years on supervised release and pay a fine of $7,500.

The 59-year-old was charged after calling the Fulton County government customer support hotline last August and leaving two messages – one for District Attorney Fani Willis and the opposite for Sheriff Pat Labat.

These conversations took place after news began to emerge that the county was preparing to drop an indictment against former President Donald Trump and several co-conspirators for election interference.

The Department of Justice reported that in his message to Sheriff Labat, Hanson made the next statements:

• “If you think that you possibly can take an image of my President Trump and all the things will likely be fine, you can find that something bad (expletive) will occur to you after you’re taking that picture.
• “If you’re taking an image of the President and you are the rationale something happened, something bad (expletive) will occur to you.
• “I’m warning you now before you (expletive) ruin your life and get really hurt.”
• “Whether you have a (expletive) badge or not isn’t going to help you”; and “you’re going to throw a (expletive) tantrum, you keep (expletive) arguing with my President.”

In Hanson’s message to District Attorney Willis, he made the next statements:

• “Be careful when you walk to your car at night, when you enter the house, be careful wherever you go.”
• “If I were you, I would be very afraid because you can’t be around people who protect you all the time.”
• “There will be times when you will be vulnerable.”
• “When you’re accusing Trump of the fourth indictment, always look over your shoulder when you’re alone.”
• “Whatever you say there (expletive) comes back to you ten times stronger and never forget it.”

A federal grand jury indicted Hanson in October 2023. He pleaded guilty to one count of transmitting interstate threats in July.

During his guilty plea hearing, he told the judge that he was not a “violent person” and “did not knowingly know that I had threatened anyone.”

“I made a stupid call,” said an insurance salesman from Huntsville, Alabama.

“Threats against government officials are not only illegal, but they also pose a threat to our democratic process,” said Sean Burke, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the FBI in Atlanta. “The mission of the FBI is to protect the American people and uphold the Constitution. We take this responsibility very seriously and seek to punish those who engage in this type of criminal behavior and send the message that such behavior will not be tolerated.”

Willis spoke loudly concerning the quite a few death threats she received in the times before and after the indictment of the previous president and greater than a dozen of his allies over election interference in Fulton County.

On the day the costs were announced, Willis secretly left the courthouse in plain clothes and hired a body double to use the important exit of the courthouse where members of the media were waiting.