{"id":123108,"date":"2025-06-16T12:02:53","date_gmt":"2025-06-16T20:02:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2025\/06\/16\/attorney-allegedly-texts-judge-i-wish-you-die-tonight-in-a-car-fire-but-doesnt-say-hes-going-to-do-it-making-this-the-most-lawyerly-threat-ever\/"},"modified":"2025-06-16T12:02:53","modified_gmt":"2025-06-16T20:02:53","slug":"attorney-allegedly-texts-judge-i-wish-you-die-tonight-in-a-car-fire-but-doesnt-say-hes-going-to-do-it-making-this-the-most-lawyerly-threat-ever","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2025\/06\/16\/attorney-allegedly-texts-judge-i-wish-you-die-tonight-in-a-car-fire-but-doesnt-say-hes-going-to-do-it-making-this-the-most-lawyerly-threat-ever\/","title":{"rendered":"Attorney Allegedly Texts Judge, \u2018I Wish You Die Tonight In A Car Fire,\u2019 But Doesn\u2019t Say HE\u2019S Going To Do It, Making This The Most Lawyerly Threat Ever"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Over the past couple weeks, authorities say Acting Supreme Court Justice Susan Capeci received multiple threatening messages from the account of attorney Nicholas Leo. From May 27 until just last week, the judge got texts like<\/a> \u201cI hope you die\u201d and the more specific \u201cI wish you die tonight in a car fire\u201d from the lawyer currently involved in a custody dispute in Capeci\u2019s courtroom where he\u2019s racked up a couple of contempt rulings. <\/p>\n

As threats made by lawyers go, it\u2019s no \u201canally raped by an asteroid<\/a>,\u201d but that doesn\u2019t make it any better. He\u2019s being held without bail right now and whatever happens, there\u2019s now a protective order barring him from contacting Capeci.<\/p>\n

Of course it would be a lawyer whose threats pointedly avoid saying that HE planned to do anything. Oh, I didn\u2019t say I was going to set your car on fire\u2026 just that it would be welcomed warmly by me if somehow you did purchase a Tesla<\/em>. The messages read like someone intent on committing aggravated harassment but who thinks he can get around it if he makes sure to use the passive voice enough. <\/p>\n

Very lawyerly\u2026 and very unlikely to work.<\/p>\n

The weaponized wishful thinking didn\u2019t impress District Attorney Susan Cacace, who dusted off Chief Justice Roberts\u2019s annual report<\/a> in remarks quoted in the NY Post:<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cAt a time of increasing threats to members of the judiciary, the defendant\u2019s alleged conduct is especially alarming,\u201d she said. \u201cAs U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts observed in his 2024 report on the federal judiciary, \u2018violence, intimidation, and defiance directed at judges because of their work undermine our Republic, and are wholly unacceptable.\u2019<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

That Roberts report sounds almost impressive when you can cherry-pick the direct passages and don\u2019t have to deal with his rambling equivocating about how media criticism of partisan opinions is sorta like burning a cross on a judge\u2019s lawn in the 60s.<\/p>\n

But while Roberts tried to use the uptick in threats against judges to grind his personal axe about the media being mean just because Sam Alito flies insurrection flags<\/a>, the danger to judges is real and needs to be addressed. Judge Salas\u2019s son was killed<\/a> by a disgruntled litigant trying to get to her and the Trump administration is whipping up his followers by claiming some of the most even-keeled jurists in America are Marxist threats to the nation<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cWe must never allow this type of conduct to become normalized,\u201d Cacace added. \u201cThe sanctity of our legal process demands nothing less.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The sanctity of the our legal process demands quite a bit more, but this is definitely the bare minimum.<\/p>\n

\n

\"Headshot\"Joe Patrice<\/a>\u00a0is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer<\/a>. Feel free to\u00a0email<\/a> any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on\u00a0Twitter<\/a>\u00a0or Bluesky<\/a> if you\u2019re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. Joe also serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search<\/a>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The post Attorney Allegedly Texts Judge, \u2018I Wish You Die Tonight In A Car Fire,\u2019 But Doesn\u2019t Say HE\u2019S Going To Do It, Making This The Most Lawyerly Threat Ever<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Over the past couple weeks, authorities say Acting Supreme Court Justice Susan Capeci received multiple threatening messages from the account of attorney Nicholas Leo. From May 27 until just last week, the judge got texts like<\/a> \u201cI hope you die\u201d and the more specific \u201cI wish you die tonight in a car fire\u201d from the lawyer currently involved in a custody dispute in Capeci\u2019s courtroom where he\u2019s racked up a couple of contempt rulings. <\/p>\n

As threats made by lawyers go, it\u2019s no \u201canally raped by an asteroid<\/a>,\u201d but that doesn\u2019t make it any better. He\u2019s being held without bail right now and whatever happens, there\u2019s now a protective order barring him from contacting Capeci.<\/p>\n

Of course it would be a lawyer whose threats pointedly avoid saying that HE planned to do anything. Oh, I didn\u2019t say I was going to set your car on fire\u2026 just that it would be welcomed warmly by me if somehow you did purchase a Tesla<\/em>. The messages read like someone intent on committing aggravated harassment but who thinks he can get around it if he makes sure to use the passive voice enough. <\/p>\n

Very lawyerly\u2026 and very unlikely to work.<\/p>\n

The weaponized wishful thinking didn\u2019t impress District Attorney Susan Cacace, who dusted off Chief Justice Roberts\u2019s annual report<\/a> in remarks quoted in the NY Post:<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cAt a time of increasing threats to members of the judiciary, the defendant\u2019s alleged conduct is especially alarming,\u201d she said. \u201cAs U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts observed in his 2024 report on the federal judiciary, \u2018violence, intimidation, and defiance directed at judges because of their work undermine our Republic, and are wholly unacceptable.\u2019<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

That Roberts report sounds almost impressive when you can cherry-pick the direct passages and don\u2019t have to deal with his rambling equivocating about how media criticism of partisan opinions is sorta like burning a cross on a judge\u2019s lawn in the 60s.<\/p>\n

But while Roberts tried to use the uptick in threats against judges to grind his personal axe about the media being mean just because Sam Alito flies insurrection flags<\/a>, the danger to judges is real and needs to be addressed. Judge Salas\u2019s son was killed<\/a> by a disgruntled litigant trying to get to her and the Trump administration is whipping up his followers by claiming some of the most even-keeled jurists in America are Marxist threats to the nation<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cWe must never allow this type of conduct to become normalized,\u201d Cacace added. \u201cThe sanctity of our legal process demands nothing less.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The sanctity of the our legal process demands quite a bit more, but this is definitely the bare minimum.<\/p>\n

\n

\"Headshot\"Joe Patrice<\/a>\u00a0is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer<\/a>. Feel free to\u00a0email<\/a> any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on\u00a0Twitter<\/a>\u00a0or Bluesky<\/a> if you\u2019re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. Joe also serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search<\/a>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Over the past couple weeks, authorities say Acting Supreme Court Justice Susan Capeci received multiple threatening messages from the account of attorney Nicholas Leo. From May 27 until just last week, the judge got texts like \u201cI hope you die\u201d and the more specific \u201cI wish you die tonight in a car fire\u201d from the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":123052,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-123108","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-above_the_law"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/xira.com\/p\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Headshot-300x200-VhBfNB.jpeg?fit=300%2C200&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123108","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=123108"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123108\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/123052"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=123108"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=123108"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=123108"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}