North Dakota Man Convicted Of Threatening To Murder A Federal Judge

United States Attorney Erica H. MacDonald today announced the conviction of ROBERT PHILIP IVERS, 65, for threatening to murder a federal judge and interstate transmission of a threat to injure. IVERS was found guilty today following a jury trial before Judge Robert W. Pratt, in United States District Court in Saint Paul, Minnesota.

“This defendant has a long history of using words to frighten and intimidate. Because of the excellent work of the United States Marshal’s Service, he is now being held accountable for making threats against a sitting United States District Court Judge in retaliation for the performance of her duties,” said Assistant U.S. Attorney Julie Allyn. “We are grateful to the jury for their careful attention to the evidence and their serious deliberation, resulting in a just verdict.”

As proven at trial, in January 2017, a United States District Court Judge (the “Victim Judge”) held a bench trial on a lawsuit brought by IVERS. The Victim Judge ruled against IVERS. He responded by sending a series of threatening letters and calling a court employee to say he was crazy angry at the Victim Judge and described himself as a “walking bomb.” IVERS was told repeatedly by Deputy U.S. Marshals to stop his threatening language.

On November 9, 2017, IVERS filed another civil lawsuit alleging the same facts as those in the case he lost before the Victim Judge. As part of the new civil case, IVERS was referred to two volunteer lawyers for a telephone consultation. After the lawyers discussed his case and told IVERS they did not believe he had a valid legal claim, IVERS began talking about his previous case with the Victim Judge. One of the lawyers described IVERS as becoming “intensely angry” and making threatening statements including:

•           “This [expletive] judge stole my life from me.”

•           “I had overwhelming evidence.”

•           The Judge “stacked the deck” to make sure I lost this case.

•           “She is lucky” I was “going to throw some chairs.”

•           “You don’t know the fifty different ways I planned to kill her.”

After the lawyer reported the threats IVERS made during the phone conversation, two Deputy U.S. Marshals went to a residence in West Fargo, North Dakota to speak with IVERS about the threats. When confronted, IVERS became extremely agitated, and screamed at the Deputies, among other things, that he was glad the Victim Judge was scared, because “that [expletive] judge stole my life.”

This case is the result of an investigation conducted by the United States Marshals Service.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Julie E. Allyn and Timothy C. Rank tried the case.

Defendant Information:

ROBERT PHILIP IVERS, 65

West Fargo, N.D.

Convicted:

• Threatening to murder a federal judge, 1 count
• Interstate transmission of a threat to injure the person of another, 1 count

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United States Attorney’s Office, District of Minnesota: (612) 664-5600