A federal jury has convicted a 42-year-old Golden, Colorado man of threatening to kill two federal judges in Rochester after a judge threw out his civil discrimination lawsuit. Akram Marseet, a native of Libya, called the clerk's office for the Western District of New York on January 10, 2024, and told a staffer the judges would be dead if he ever crossed paths with them.
According to trial testimony reported by RochesterFirst, Marseet told the clerk, “If I ever come across any of you, you will be dead sons of (expletive).” The U.S. Marshals Service received a report about the call the same day, and the FBI and New York State Police joined the investigation, the station reported. Federal prosecutors filed the threats case against Marseet the following day, on January 11, 2024.
The call came after a federal judge dismissed Marseet's civil lawsuit with prejudice, meaning the claims could never be filed again. As Finger Lakes Daily News reported, Marseet became agitated over the dismissal, called two judges criminals and threatened to kill them if he encountered them. Marseet lives in Golden, Colorado, according to the outlet's reporting on his conviction.
A Discrimination Case Tied To RIT
The two judges named in the threats, Geraci and Payson, were both involved in a federal lawsuit Marseet had filed accusing Rochester Institute of Technology of discrimination, according to the New York Daily Record. Court filings described by CBS News, which first reported on CBS Colorado, show Marseet was employed at RIT during the final two years of his pursuit of a master's degree in electrical engineering. In his discrimination complaint, he claimed he was paid less than other student-employees at the school and alleged that racial bias caused his mistreatment.
Marseet was expelled from RIT in 2020 following a disciplinary hearing prompted by another student's allegations against him, which his complaint characterized as false. He also claimed in his complaint that a mental health disability and insufficient school accommodations prevented him from successfully defending himself during that process. None of those underlying discrimination claims were resolved on their merits; the case was dismissed with prejudice.
Prosecutors Respond To The Verdict
Michael DiGiacomo, the U.S. Attorney for Western New York, said in a press release that threats against members of the judiciary will never be tolerated. He added that judges deserve to work free from intimidation and threats of violence. Marseet's conviction carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison, and he is scheduled to be sentenced on February 1, 2027, before Chief U.S. District Judge Brenda K. Sannes, per RochesterFirst's reporting.
The case lands amid what federal data shows is a sustained rise in threats against the judiciary nationally. Threats and inappropriate communications against federal judges and court personnel climbed from 926 incidents in 2015 to 2,710 in 2023, according to the Marshals Service figures cited by the U.S. Courts. Security incidents the Marshals Service classifies as being of significant concern jumped nearly 60 percent in fiscal year 2025, as PBS NewsHour reported, with hundreds of federal judges nationwide receiving threats against themselves and their families this year.
Other cases around the country illustrate the stakes prosecutors say are at play. In Texas, Donald Ray McCray, 67, was sentenced to more than 17 years in federal prison for mailing threatening communications to several U.S. District Court judges and sending a hoax biological weapon to a courthouse, according to the Justice Department's office for the Northern District of Texas. Marseet's sentencing next year will determine how severely a federal court weighs his threats against the Rochester judges.
