A 31-year-old Howell man is facing up to 20 years in prison after prosecutors say he texted his probation officer in August detailing how to build a bomb and stating his intent to kill the Wayne County judge who had overseen his prior criminal case. Kyle Fawaz was arraigned Wednesday, October 7, 2026, in Livingston County's 53rd District Court, even though the judge he allegedly threatened sits roughly 60 miles away in Detroit's 3rd Circuit Court.
According to Belleville News-Democrat, Fawaz allegedly sent several text messages to his probation officer in which he stated his intent to kill the judge and described possessing large quantities of chemicals that could be used to make a bomb. Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel's office, which announced the charges, says the texts came after Fawaz's case moved through Wayne County's 3rd Circuit Court. Fawaz now faces a terroristic threat felony, a felony for using a computer to commit a crime, and a misdemeanor for malicious use of telecommunications services.
What the Alleged Messages Described
The research record behind the state's case indicates the texts went beyond a vague threat, allegedly detailing how specific chemical components could be combined to assemble an explosive device alongside explicit statements of intent to kill the judge, according to the State of Michigan. Those details reportedly came straight from messages Fawaz sent his probation officer, rather than from any outside tip or surveillance.
Under Michigan's anti-terrorism statute, MCL 750.543m, making a terrorist threat is a 20-year felony carrying a fine of up to $20,000, and state law specifies that lacking the actual capability or intent to follow through is not a valid defense, per the Michigan Legislature. Prosecutors also tacked on a separate 20-year felony under Michigan Compiled Laws Section 750.145d for using a computer or mobile device to facilitate the alleged crime, plus a six-month misdemeanor under Section 750.540e for malicious use of telecommunications — the same statutory combination that explains why a string of text messages can generate two distinct 20-year charges.
Nessel's Office Frames the Case as an Attack on the Courts
“Public servants, from judges to clerks to local officials and lawmakers, shouldn't have to fear for their personal safety, or their very lives, for fulfilling their duties,” Nessel said in the release announcing the charges. She added that threats against an officer of the court amount to a crime against both the individual victim and the institutions meant to keep communities safe.
The case is being prosecuted by the Hate Crimes and Domestic Terrorism Unit, which Nessel launched in 2019 as a specialized state prosecutorial body. The unit has handled dozens of high-profile threat cases targeting local officials, lawmakers, and sitting judges across both major political parties, according to the State of Michigan.
Part of a Wider Pattern of State Terrorism Charges
Fawaz's arraignment follows a string of similar prosecutions out of the AG's office this year. Weeks earlier, Nessel announced terrorism charges against Roseville resident Alicia Choucair and Lake Orion resident Anthony DeKinderen for separate threats targeting Governor Gretchen Whitmer, Dearborn Mayor Abdullah Hammoud, and the Michigan Supreme Court — a case Hoodline covered in detail when DeKinderen faced nine felony counts tied to emailed threats against state supreme court justices.
In another case detailed by Legal News, 75-year-old Marion Williams Richardson was charged after allegedly telephoning death threats to court staff targeting Shelby Township Chief Judge Douglas Shepherd at his home, a case referred to state prosecutors because of a conflict of interest involving the judge, who was active in Macomb County. Earlier in 2026, a Warren man pleaded no contest to making a terrorist threat against a judge and police officers following an investigation into online menacing messages, a case Hoodline reported on in its earlier coverage.
Why Fawaz Was Arraigned in Howell, Not Detroit
Fawaz was arraigned in Livingston County because he resides there and allegedly sent the text messages from that jurisdiction, even though the judge he threatened sits in Wayne County. Michigan cybercrime statutes permit venue in either the jurisdiction where telecommunication messages originate or where they are received, according to the WHMI 93.5 Local News report on the case.
The prosecution also arrives against a backdrop of rising threats against judges nationally. U.S. Marshals Service data shows documented threats against American judges climbed from 403 threats against 302 federal judges in fiscal year 2022 to 564 threats against 396 judges in fiscal year 2025, with roughly one in seven active federal judges facing at least one threat that year, according to data compiled by Response Technologies.
