A California man faces up to ten years in prison for what prosecutors call explicit death threats against a federal judge—but his defense attorneys argue the crude emails were just angry speech, not real violence.
David Brooks Pokorny, 45, of El Cerrito sent eleven emails to the Northern District of California court system in just 44 minutes on September 2, 2025. The messages singled out Senior U.S. District Judge Charles R. Breyer, a Clinton appointee, with language prosecutors say crosses the line from criticism to criminal threat.
What the Emails Said
“I want you to visualize skinning U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer,” one email read, according to Assistant U.S. Attorney Kent Stejskal’s opening statement Tuesday. Another declared “California courts are valid military targets. California judges are enemy combatants.” A third warned, “I’m going to kill a hostage because you aren’t responding to terrorism.”
Pokorny is charged with felony threats against a judicial officer. The case turns on whether his words meet the legal definition of “true threats”—serious expressions conveying the speaker means to commit unlawful violence.
Defense Claims Words Don’t Equal Action
Pokorny’s public defenders acknowledge the emails were “vitriolic” but argue they don’t constitute genuine threats of harm. The distinction matters: Americans have broad First Amendment protection for angry, even offensive political speech. But that protection ends when words become credible threats.
The fourteen-person jury must decide which side of that line Pokorny’s forty-four-minute email barrage falls on. Federal courts have wrestled with this question for years, particularly as online communication has made it easier to fire off messages in moments of rage.
What Happens Next
The trial continues in Oakland federal court. Prosecutors will need to prove Pokorny’s words were both objectively threatening and that he intended them as genuine threats, not just venting frustration with the legal system.
If convicted, Pokorny faces a maximum sentence of ten years in federal prison—a stark reminder that the Constitution protects criticism of judges, but not threats against their lives.
Key Points
- David Brooks Pokorny, 45, faces ten years for emails threatening to “skin” federal Judge Charles Breyer
- Defense argues “vitriolic” emails were protected speech, not true threats of violence
- Case hinges on legal line between angry political expression and credible criminal threats
https://www.courthousenews.com/jury-trial-begins-for-man-accused-of-threatening-to-skin-california-federal-judge/ – November 03, 2026
