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Prison Inmate Convicted Of Writing Letter Threatening Pensacola Federal Judge
April 29, 2026
Christopher Summers, 58-year-old Florida Department of Corrections inmate, has been convicted of mailing threatening communications to a federal judge in Pensacola.
Court documents and evidence presented at trial revealed that in October 2024, Summers sent a handwritten letter addressed to a Federal District Judge M. Casey Rodgers at the Federal Courthouse in Pensacola, Florida. In the letter, Summers wrote in part:
“I am writing this letter to you in hopes that you will know what it feels like to be helpless when you know for fact that you’re going to either be beaten so badly you’ll never function like a normal person again, or be killed. I’m very driven to have you killed, even if I’ve got to do it myself when I get out and back to Pensacola. I thought I’d have to wait until I got out, but now that I’ve thought about it I realize that I can have it done now. As soon as I leave this prison and get back to my perminet [sic] camp I’ll get on one of the many cell-phones there and green light a hit on you … Hell if I have to I’d shoot your head off as you pull in to that gate at the Court house, I can do it from that park next door. I don’t care if I get more time or even killed. As long as I get you first. So how dose [sic] it feel to know who is going to be responsible [sic] for your life, yet not be able to stop it or do anything about it?”
“When threatening statements exceed the legal bounds of constitutional Free Speech, my office will not hesitate to aggressively prosecute those criminal threats to ensure they do not have the opportunity to ripen into acts of violence,” said U.S. Attorney John P. Heekin. “Criminal threats directed at public officials are becoming alarmingly more common, and this must stop now. We have zero-tolerance for such criminality in the Northern District of Florida and will seek maximum punishments to keep our public officials safe”
At trial, counsel for Summers claimed that Summers wrote the letter as part of his mental health therapy, and that Summers never intended to mail the letter. However, the Government’s case revealed that mental health therapy did not include threatening letters; that the prison takes steps to ensure that inmates do not inadvertently send letters to the courts; and that Summers told another inmate his desire to have the Judge killed. The jury swiftly returned a guilty verdict.
Summers faces up to 10 years’ imprisonment. Sentencing is scheduled for August 6, 2026, before United States District Court Judge T. Kent Wetherell, II, in Pensacola.
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Comments
One Response to “Prison Inmate Convicted Of Writing Letter Threatening Pensacola Federal Judge”
A few fries short of a happy meal.
I wish Judges were as concerned about others that get threatened as much as they do for themselves. Far to many domestic violence cases come from threats that are actually carried out after a Judge lets the person walk free with a “don’t go near that person” warning and nothing else. But threaten a Judge and real consequences. Don’t get me started on lazy prosecutors and plea deals.
I have lost respect for our legal system. It would be a joke if so many criminals an drunks were not out endangering the public.