Ohio man who threatened to kill Arizona election official sentenced
An Ohio man who acknowledged making death threats in voicemails left for then-Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs during the 2022 election season has been sentenced Monday to 2½ years in prison.
Joshua Russell of Bucyrus, Ohio, had pleaded guilty on Aug. 31 in Phoenix to a federal charge of making an interstate threat against Hobbs, a Democrat who, as secretary of state, was Arizona’s chief elections officer in 2022 and now serves as the state’s governor.
U. S. District Judge Steven Logan commended Russell for undergoing substance abuse treatment and other counseling since his arrest and getting his life in order but concluded Russell must spend time in prison, saying he has traumatized people who work in the secretary of state’s office.
The judge, who read Russell’s profanity- laden threats aloud in court, said Russell had accused the victim of being a terrorist, while he was threatening her life. He rejected Russell’s characterization of his actions as immature. “None of these people deserved it,” the judge said.
“I was looking for an outlet to cast my inner turmoil onto,” Russell told the judge before he was sentenced. He hugged his parents and sister in the courtroom before he was taken away to start serving his punishment.
Ms. Hobbs was not present in court during the sentencing hearing.
The three voicemails left by Russell were among the countless threats made against Ms. Hobbs for her role in certifying Joe Biden’s 2020 presidential victory over Donald Trump in Arizona and her responsibility in running the 2022 midterm elections. As secretary of state, Ms. Hobbs at times had round-the-clock security due to threats from Trump supporters who falsely claimed that his loss in Arizona was marred by fraud. She has described threatening phone calls to her office and said critics tried to get her husband fired from his job.
Russell’s case is among the cases brought by the U.S. Justice Department’s Election Threats Task Force, which focuses on threats of violence against elected officials, workers and volunteers to ensure they can oversee elections free of harassment.
Earlier this month, a Massachusetts man was sentenced to 3½ years in prison for making an online threat to bomb Ms. Hobbs’ office in February 2021 when she was still the secretary of state.
In February, an Alabama man accused of sending death threats to a social media account for the Maricopa County Elections Department was charged with making interstate threats. And an Iowa man was sentenced to 2½ years in prison for his conviction for threatening Maricopa County Supervisor Clint Hickman and Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich, both Republicans.
In voicemails that began on primary election day and ended a week after the general election, Russell called Ms. Hobbs a traitor and made explicit threats, telling the secretary of state that “her days are extremely numbered,” she had “just signed your own death warrant” and she will either be sent to jail “or we will see you to the grave.”