Judge jails Trump supporter for death threats despite DOJ’s recommendation of probation

A federal judge has sentenced a California man to jail for sending dozens of racist death threats to anti-Trump politicians.

In a rare move, U.S. District Judge Richard Seeborg rejected the Department of Justice's recommendation of probation, and sentenced 71-year-old Michael Anthony Gallagher to four months behind bars.

Gallagher "spent some four years sending dozens of racist death threats on personalized, handmade postcards," the Mercury News reported Friday.

He pleaded guilty in August to mailing a threatening postcard, signed "KKK," to California Democratic Congresswoman Maxine Waters, who is Black.

Gallagher's threat to Waters was among at least 75 he sent to politicians across the country who were critical of former president Donald Trump.

“We’re going to hang your head off the Washington Monument, you piece of Communist (expletive)," Gallagher once wrote to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. He also threatened to shoot Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.

Nevertheless, Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Tartakovsky recommended a term of one year of probation.

“This is based on a number of factors, beginning with Mr. Gallagher’s prompt admission of guilt and genuine contrition, which includes his statement to an agent after the search of his house that he had been ‘scared straight,’" Tartakovsky wrote. “Other factors include his age, his lack of a prior record, the absence of evidence that he had any intent actually to carry out any of his threats, his insignificant likelihood of re-offending, and the sufficiency of the conviction itself to provide general and specific deterrence.”

In an apology letter, Gallagher wrote: “Throughout the last presidency, I was impacted by the political polarization of our country. That’s when I started on the reproachable path of mailing threatening postcards, for which I am painfully sorry and ashamed. I think I believed I was sending a message about my political views. But now I realize that these views and my conduct were terribly misguided and shameful.”

Gallagher is scheduled to report to jail in March after being sentenced in December. A transcript from his sentencing hearing wasn't available, the newspaper reported.