An Alexandria, Va. man was sentenced in federal court Wednesday for threatening to kill white judges. 61 year old Stephen Rosenberg was convicted March 17 for sending an e-mail to Senior U.S. District Judge Matthew J. Perry, Jr. in which he threatened to kill white judges unless judge Perry reinstated a civil lawsuit that Rosenberg had previously filed in 2002, alleging that he had been unlawfully arrested and incarcerated by state officials. In 2003, Judge Perry dismissed the lawsuit. In 2007, Rosenberg demanded that the lawsuit be reinstated, and Judge Perry held a hearing on the demand later that year. After the hearing, Judge Perry started receiving numerous e-mails from Rosenberg. In late 2008, the e-mails began including threats to kill white judges.
Rosenberg was sentenced to 65 months in prison followed by three years of supervised released. Judge Cameron Currie tacked on an additional 30 days to Rosenberg’s sentence for his conduct during the three-day trail. A West Point and law school graduate, Rosenberg represented himself both at trial and during Wednesday’s sentencing. Evidence presented during the three-day trial showed that Rosenberg has a long history of conflict with various officials of the state of South Carolina.
Prosecutors also presented evidence showing that the threatening messages in Rosenberg’s e-mails intensified during the time of his father’s death on Christmas Day 2008 and his father’s burial in Arlington National Cemetery in April 2009. Rosenberg’s father was a retired U.S. Army colonel.
Although the Charleston County School District has seen a slight increase in reading levels, still one in seven students read below a fourth-grade level. So, the school district is participating in a literacy fundraising book campaign to help raise the awareness on the importance of literacy, service and community.
