Judge Bruce Petrie of Danville, Ky., has a bullet-resistant bench and armed bailiffs and is thinking of carrying a gun after police thwarted a plot to kill him, reports the Washington Post. In general, the number of reported threats against judges has been increasing, as have verbal and physical attacks against judges and other court officials, in courthouses and elsewhere.
About six months ago, a man was on his way to a hearing in Petrie’s courtroom involving a restraining order with an accordion file stuffed with papers, with the papers hollowed out to conceal two clips of ammunition and a gun. Petrie, 39, is a judge in Family Court, also known by those who work in it as Hate Court, and Demonic Relations. Thirty-five miles north of Danville, Chief U.S. District Judge Joseph Hood in Lexington says a semiautomatic pistol is “with me whenever I move. There are people out there wrapped not too tight. Their bubble is off-center, if you know what I mean.”
Link: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/04/AR2005060401507.html