Glendale man sentenced for threatening to choke judge to death
/By Noah Powelson
A Queens man pleaded guilty on Tuesday for threatening to assault and murder a United States district judge in retaliation for dismissing his civil claim.
Kenneth Ward Jr., a 59-year-old from Glendale, pleaded guilty to threatening the judge once overseeing his case this week and now faces up to a decade in prison.
In July 2024, Ward attended a pretrial conference over telephone to discuss trial scheduling regarding a civil claim he filed against a government agency.
During that conference, which was recorded, Ward became angry, swore several times and threatened to choke the unnamed district judge “to death.”
At the plea hearing, which was held in federal court in Brooklyn on Monday, Ward admitted that he made the threat in retaliation for the judge’s ruling against him in his civil case.
United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, John Durham, announced the plea.
“The judges and other court officials who work every day to keep our country safe and uphold the rule of law should not have to fear for their lives for doing their jobs,” Durham said. “Threatening judges strikes at the very heart of our system. This Office has no tolerance for violence or threats of violence against public servants. We will prosecute offenders like the defendant to the fullest extent of the law.”
According to the complaint filed against Ward, in 2015 the defendant filed several civil action claims, while representing himself, against several government agencies. The complaints were related to Ward’s involuntary commitment at Nassau University Medical Center for six days. Over the years, a district judge dismissed all but one of Ward’s claims.
In an audio recording of the conference, Ward is heard saying the judge should have never dismissed his case and, “if I ever see her again, I’m going to choke her to death. And that’s on the record.”
At one point, Ward also said that the judge could go “f– herself.”
Ward is expected to be sentenced in April.
