Home Cleveland Press Releases 2010 Inmate Charged with Threatening U.S. Judge and Family
Info
This is archived material from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) website. It may contain outdated information and links may no longer function.

Inmate Charged with Threatening U.S. Judge and Family

U.S. Attorney’s Office May 04, 2010
  • Northern District of Ohio (216) 622-3600

Steven M. Dettelbach, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio, today announced that a federal grand jury in Cleveland returned an indictment charging Clifton Cousins, a.k.a. Abdullah Jihad Al-Malik, with making an extortionate threat via U.S. mail, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 876(b), threatening the immediate family of a U.S. judge, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 115(a)(1)(A), threatening a U.S. judge, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 115(a)(1)(B), and threatening to damage or destroy a federal building, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 844(e).

Cousins, age 41, is currently incarcerated at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville, Ohio.

According to the indictment, in June 2006, Cousins threatened, by letter, to kill a federal judge, the judge’s wife, and the judge’s children. The same letter threatened to destroy a federal building through the use of an explosive. The indictment alleges that this letter was sent in order to obtain more favorable imprisonment conditions for Cousins, as well as to retaliate against the federal judge for what Cousins perceived to be an unfair federal sentence of imprisonment.

The indictment also alleges that in October, 2009, another letter containing a small plastic bag of white powder was sent by Cousins to the same federal judge. This letter threatened the judge with a pipe bomb, which the letter stated was to be placed in a restroom at the courthouse. The letter also stated that the white powder was arsenic and threatened to poison the federal judge with the substance.

“The independent federal judiciary is the crown jewel of our democracy. When someone threatens those who serve in it—not to mention their families—they strike a blow at our constitutional system, and we can and will vigorously respond,” said United States Attorney Steve M. Dettelbach.

If convicted, defendant’s sentence will be determined by the court after review of factors unique to this case, including the defendant’s prior criminal record, if any, the defendant’s role in the offense, and the characteristics of the violation. In all cases, the sentence will not exceed the statutory maximum and in most cases it will be less than the maximum. The maximum statutory penalties upon conviction are: for the offense of mailing threatening communication to a United States judge, up to 20 years' imprisonment, and a fine of $500,000; for each of the offenses of threatening the immediate family of a U.S. judge, threatening a U.S. judge, and threatening to damage or destroy a federal building, up to 10 years' imprisonment, and a fine of $250,000, as well as a three-year period of supervised release following imprisonment.

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Justin E. Herdman following an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the United States Marshals Service.

An indictment is only a charge and is not evidence of guilt. A defendant is entitled to a fair trial in which it will be the government's burden to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

This content has been reproduced from its original source.