Salt Lake City Woman Arrested for Threatening a Federal Judge

SALT LAKE CITY – Joan Osborn, 57, of Salt Lake City, Utah, was arrested today for threatening to assault and murder a Utah federal judge, U.S. Attorney Wendy J. Olson announced.  The U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Idaho is handling the prosecution, rather than the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Utah, in accordance with Department of Justice policy because the federal judge sits in the District of Utah.  Osborn was indicted by a federal grand jury in Salt Lake City on February 25, 2015. 

Osborn is scheduled to appear in court on March 2, 2015, before U.S. Magistrate Judge Evelyn J. Furse at the federal courthouse in Salt Lake City.

If convicted, the charge is punishable by up to ten years in prison, a maximum fine of $250,000, and up to three years of supervised release.

The case is being investigated by the U.S. Marshals Service.                                                                             

An indictment is only an allegation of criminal conduct and is not evidence of guilt.  A person is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.