(NewsNation) — An Ohio man who acknowledged making death threats in voicemails left for then-Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs during the 2022 election season has been sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison, the Department of Justice announced Monday during a news briefing.
Joshua Russell of Bucyrus, Ohio, had pleaded guilty Aug. 31, 2023, in Phoenix to a federal charge of making an interstate threat against Hobbs, a Democrat who, as secretary of state, was Arizona’s chief elections officer in 2022 and now serves as the state’s governor.
“There is no Constitutional right to vigilantism,” said Gary M. Restaino, U.S. attorney for the District of Arizona. “There is a common denominator in many of these cases: Election denialists announcing an intent to violently punish those they believe have wronged them, often with the threat of arrests leading to executions for treason. Let these cases be a lesson not to take or attempt to take the rule of law into one’s own hands.”
The three voicemails left by Russell were among the countless threats made against Hobbs for her role in certifying Joe Biden’s 2020 presidential victory over Donald Trump in Arizona and her responsibility in running the 2022 midterm elections. As secretary of state, Hobbs at times had round-the-clock security due to threats from Trump supporters who falsely claimed that his loss in Arizona was marred by fraud. She has described threatening phone calls to her office and said critics tried to get her husband fired from his job.
Russell’s case is among the cases brought by the U.S. Justice Department’s Election Threats Task Force, which focuses on threats of violence against elected officials, workers and volunteers to ensure they can oversee elections free of harassment.
The state’s razor-thin presidential outcome in 2020 made it a national epicenter for misinformation about voter fraud, voting machine problems and phony results.
“Death threats are not First Amendment protected speech … and will be met with the full force of the Department of Justice,” said principal deputy chief John D. Keller of the Election Threats Task Force.
Keller said the Task Force has opened dozens of cases nationwide and have charged roughly 20 defendants “for engaging in threats to the election community.” The charges have resulted in 13 convictions, including Russell’s.
Earlier this month, a Massachusetts man was sentenced to 3 1/2 years in prison for making an online threat to bomb Hobbs’ office in February 2021 when she was still the secretary of state.
Last month, an Alabama man was sentenced up to 25 years in prison for allegedly sending threatening Instagram messages to Arizona election officials after claiming election fraud in the state’s 2022 gubernatorial race, federal prosecutors said.
Also in February, 52-year-old William Hyde of San Diego, Calif., was arrested for allegedly leaving a threatening voicemail on personal cellphone of an official in the Maricopa County Recorder’s Office.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.