Daytona Beach, FL - A Florida Panhandle man is found guilty in Volusia County for threatening to kill the judge who presided over his custody battle against his ex-wife.
Jurors convicted 36-year-old Alan McCarty - a resident of Milton in Santa Rosa County - today (August 23rd) on four counts, including two a piece on corruption by threat against a public official and threats or extortion.
Prosecutors said it all started when McCarty called Volusia County 911 dispatchers last September and threatened to kill Florida Seventh Circuit Judge Stasia Warren after she ruled against him in the custody dispute.
Those calls - which were publicly released afterward by the Volusia County Sheriff's Office - showed McCarty cursing out Judge Warren and demanding the return of his children.
McCarty was arrested on September 30th by deputies in Santa Rosa County and brought to Volusia County Jail in December 2017, where he had been awaiting trial.
Besides his threats against the judge, McCarty was also charged for threatening to kill two of the emergency dispatchers who took his calls.
Those same kind of profane threats were on display for much of the trial, with McCarty yelling at witnesses, his own legal team and Circuit Judge Matt Foxman, who presided over this case, according to Florida Seventh Circuit State Attorney RJ Larizza.
"The defendant’s vulgar and threatening racist rants were as chilling and offensive as any I have ever heard," Larizza added afterward. "Threatening judges is an attack on the very heart of our criminal justice system."
At one point, McCarty's behavior led to Judge Foxman threatening to "duct tape" his mouth shut, but that never actually happened. He was eventually placed in an adjacent room with a window for him to look into the courtroom. McCarty was allowed back into the courtroom to testify when he was called to the stand.
No sentencing date has been scheduled. McCarty will remain at VCJ until he is sentenced.
