An Oceanside man who threatened to kill Democrat Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York in a voicemail message left at Schumer's Washington, D.C. office was sentenced Friday to five months in prison.
Johnathan Ryan McGuire was charged with sending a profane message to the Senate majority leader in which he threatened to "blow your (expletive) head off" and "send some bullets your way," according to an FBI agent's affidavit filed in San Diego federal court.
The caller, who included several antisemitic and homophobic slurs in his message, also stated, "Yeah, you guys are real upset huh? You can't murder babies anymore."
Schumer's staff notified police of the message, which was received on May 3, 2022, and came from a phone number attributed to McGuire, according to court documents.
The affidavit also alleges that U.S. Capitol Police have documented "numerous threats by McGuire to various members of U.S. Congress and a USCP officer" between 2019 and 2021, which were allegedly sent by phone and email.
McGuire pleaded guilty last year in San Diego federal court to one count of threats in interstate commerce.
At McGuire's sentencing hearing on Friday, defense attorney Marc Kohnen sought a time-served sentence for 18 days McGuire had already spent in custody, arguing that mental health and substance use issues played a large role in the offense.
The attorney described McGuire's behavior at the time as "screaming into the void in perhaps the most unhealthy way possible" and "a cry for help."
Kohnen also argued that when looking at other cases involving threats to public officials, defendants in the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol breach received 45-day sentences on average.
McGuire told U.S. District Judge Todd W. Robinson that he took "full responsibility for my vulgar and despicable actions."
While Robinson credited McGuire for making strides through treatment and counseling since the incident, the judge said he was troubled by the prolonged conduct that included not just Schumer, but other elected officials.
"You can have a robust disagreement with public officials, but the fact of the matter remains that those individuals are entitled to go about their daily business without receiving unwarranted threats from constituents or any other members of the public," Robinson said prior to imposing the prison sentence.
