Arthur Ray Hanson II, from Huntsville, Alabama, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge J. P. Boulee on Oct. 29 to one year, and nine months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release. The 59-year-old was also ordered to pay a $7,500 fine.
Hanson pleaded guilty to leaving threatening messages in June and he was convicted in July 2024. The DOJ said Hanson made the threats to Willis and Fulton County Sheriff Patrick Labat in two voicemails left with the Fulton County government customer service line in August 2023.
The voicemails were left shortly before a Fulton County jury indicted Trump and 18 other defendants on state charges related to their alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election results in Georgia. Trump and his co-defendants pleaded not guilty to the charges.
In his message left for District Attorney Willis, Hanson allegedly said she should “watch it when you’re going to the car at night, when you’re going into your house, watch everywhere that you’re going,” according to prosecutors.
Hanson also allegedly said, “I would be very afraid if I were you because you can’t be around people all the time that are going to protect you” and “When you charge Trump on that fourth indictment, anytime you’re alone, be looking over your shoulder.”
In his voicemail to Labat, Hanson told the Sheriff that “some bad [expletive]” would happen to him if he took a mugshot of Trump, according to prosecutors.
Hanson ‘Repulsed and Sickened’ by Recordings
Attorneys for Hanson asked that their client be sentenced to either probation and community service or home confinement as opposed to prison, noting that his 19-year-old son lives with him and his mother has been diagnosed with terminal cancer.His attorneys also highlighted their client’s history of abusing alcohol. Since his arrest, Hanson has completed an anger management course and is regularly attending Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, his defense attorneys told the court.
Hanson’s lawyers also told the court that he suffers from grand mal seizures and has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder.
Prosecutors asked for the prison term that was handed down, and the judge took that recommendation into account, along with supporting statements about Hanson from his lawyers and loved ones, when sentencing.
Speaking during the Oct. 29 hearing, Hanson tearfully apologized to Willis and Labat. He told the court he was intoxicated when he made the calls and had no recollection of leaving the threatening voicemails.
He said he was “repulsed and sickened” when he heard the recordings.
Willis said after the hearing that she had forgiven Hanson.
In a statement announcing the sentencing, Sean Burke, the acting special agent in charge at FBI Atlanta, said threats against public servants are not only illegal but also a “threat against our democratic process.”
“The FBI’s mission is to protect the American people and uphold the Constitution,” Burke said. “We take this responsibility very seriously and seek to punish those who engage in this type of criminal behavior, and to send the message that such conduct will not be tolerated.”
