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Press Release

Mendota Prisoner Sentenced to over 8 Years in Prison for Mailing Threats to Murder a Federal Judge

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, Eastern District of California

FRESNO, Calif. — Cyrus Dennis Braswell, 57, was sentenced Monday by U.S. District Judge Dale A. Drozd to eight years and one month in prison for three counts of mailing threatening communications, U.S. Attorney McGregor W. Scott announced.

On February 13, a federal jury found Braswell guilty of mailing threats against a federal judge in the District of Alaska who had sentenced Braswell in 1998. According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, while an inmate at Mendota Federal Correctional Institute in Fresno County, Braswell mailed communications to Alaska in which he threatened to murder the judge after he got out of prison.

This case was the product of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the U.S. Marshals Service, and the Bureau of Prisons. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Laura D. Withers and Kirk E. Sheriff prosecuted the case.

Braswell currently remains in the custody of the Bureau of Prisons, and he will serve the new sentence after he completes his original 1998 sentence.

Updated May 21, 2019

Topic
Violent Crime
Press Release Number: 1:18-cr-034-DAD