Cook County judges sent threats: 'You're on a kill list'
Todd LightyContact ReporterChicago Tribune
At least five Cook County judges have recently received death threats in anonymous letters sent to their chambers, including one warning, "You're on a kill list."
The death threats caused alarm among some of the judges and prompted Chief Judge Timothy Evans to alert Sheriff Tom Dart, whose office handles courtroom security.
In a memo obtained by the Tribune, Evans wrote to the county's judges Friday about the threats, noting he had contacted the sheriff and "requested that all deputy sheriffs be alerted to the situation and that he take any other action he deems necessary."
Cara Smith, chief strategist for the sheriff, said Monday that no arrests have been made in connection with the threats.
"We have an open investigation and will run this out and ensure the safety of the judges," Smith said. "Any threat to a member of the judiciary is of the utmost concern."
The safety of judges and their families has taken on greater significance over the last decade after a crazed litigant broke into U.S. District Judge Joan Lefkow's Chicago home in 2005 and killed her husband and mother.
In his memo, Evans wrote that the threats were contained in envelopes that had the word "frank" where a postage stamp would go and that the return address contained the names and addresses of other judges.
Evans' office on Monday was tight-lipped about the threats. Pat Milhizer, spokesman for the Circuit Court, said the chief judge's office was taking the matter "very seriously."
"Several letters of a suspicious nature were received," Milhizer said. "Following protocol, we forwarded the matter to the Cook County sheriff's police, which handles these types of judicial matters."
Milhizer declined to comment beyond his brief statement.
Judge Thomas Mulroy said that he received a threatening letter and that he knew of two other judges who received them. Mulroy and those judges work in the Law Division's commercial section in the Daley Center, handling business cases such as breach of contracts and unlawful firings.
Mulroy, who has been a judge for nearly nine years, said he turned his letter over to Evans' office last week. He said it contained no clues about the sender's identity and recalled the letter contained the chilling statement: "You're on a kill list." He said he had never been threatened before and the letter made him "uncomfortable."
Two additional judges who handled mortgage fraud and foreclosure cases also received letters last Thursday.
A source familiar with one of the letters said it was undated, handwritten and contained repeated threats from unidentified groups of people.
"These groups are serious. They want revenge," the letter stated. "They'll kill you and your family."
A number of judges said they often get letters from people ranting about the judicial system's perceived flaws and unfairness. Rarely, they said, do they receive death threats. "It does not happen very often," said one veteran judge. "It's a big deal when we get them."
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