The Alaskan man accused of threatening to torture and kill six US Supreme Court Justices in online messages wants his cellphone back — claiming he needs it for his safety, according to new court papers.
Panos Anastasiou, 76, was released without bail last month in the case charging him with sending hundreds of menacing messages through the high court’s website. But a judge put conditions on Anastasiou’s release, including barring him from using an internet-enabled phone.
But Anastasiou’s lawyer is asking a judge to lift the cell phone restriction, noting that Anastasiou was filmed by a local news network outside his home “in a manner that plainly identified” his house, according to the Monday filing.
Anastasiou also needs his phone to connect to his home security system so he can see a video feed of any people who may come by his house, the letter by defense attorney Jane Imholte says.
“Mr. Anastasiou lives alone in a high-crime neighborhood,” Imholte wrote. “He has an extensive home security system that he can only access with an internet-connected phone or computer. When the lights outside indicate the cameras have been triggered, Mr. Anastasiou has no way of knowing by what or whom.”
Imolte said her client needs his phone to schedule doctors appointments as they “monitor the progression of his cancer.”
Anastasiou was arrested in Anchorage on 22 federal charges alleging he sent 465 alarming messages through the Supreme Court’s website between March 10 and July 16.
Court papers do not identify which judges Anastasiou’s messages were aimed at but details from the threats indicate his targets included Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas.
Two of the messages also threatened former President Donald Trump — though the charges aren’t specifically tied to the Trump messages.
In some of the disturbing missives — which include threats of lynching and shooting — Anastasiou said he’d find the justices at their homes and kill them, court papers allege.
For example on May 17, he allegedly said he’d go to one of the judge’s homes with a group of Vietnam War vets and open up gunfire with an AR-15.
In another July 5 message, he allegedly wrote: “We should make [Supreme Court Justices 1-6] be AFRAID very AFRAID to leave their home and fear for their lives everyday,” court papers claim.
Another man, Eric James Rennert, 65, was arrested last week for allegedly threatening to kidnap and murder a judge in the district in Florida where the documents case against the former commander-in-chief was tossed out earlier this year.
Rennert, of Illinois, allegedly threatened a judge in St. Lucia County, Fla. where Judge Aileen Cannon presides alongside only one other magistrate judge.
Cannon issued a bombshell ruling on July 15 dismissing all the criminal charges against Trump for allegedly hoarding troves of confidential documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate after he left office.
The charged political climate, in a presidential election year, has also seen two attempts on Trump’s life this summer.
Cannon was randomly assigned to oversee the case against alleged would-be Trump assassin Ryan Wesley Routh — who on Sept. 15 was allegedly caught with an assault rifle on the perimeter of Trump’s West Palm Beach golf course while the real estate tycoon-turned-politician was golfing. Routh has pleaded not guilty.
On July 15, Thomas Matthew Crooks shot Trump while he was attending a political rally in Butler, Pa. Crooks struck Trump’s ear before he was killed by the Secret Service.