for threatening an Orange County Superior Court judge who oversaw his child custody case<\/a>.<\/p>\nByrom Zuniga Sanchez, formerly of Laguna Niguel, was convicted Dec. 4 of two counts of threats by interstate and foreign communication. Prosecutors sought a six-year federal prison sentence, but U.S. District Judge Fred W. Slaughter went beyond sentencing guidelines due to the \u201cgrim\u201d nature of the threats, \u201clack of contrition,\u201d and \u201cconcerns about these threats continuing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Slaugher ordered Sanchez to pay $22,798.12 in restitution and placed him on three years of supervised release as well as 20 hours of community service weekly and to participate in a domestic violence treatment program.<\/p>\n
Zuniga Sanchez, who represented himself in the trial, asked the judge for \u201ctime served,\u201d or the two years he has been in custody in the case.<\/p>\n
A brief skirmish occurred in the hallway outside the courtroom following the hearing when supporters of Sanchez got into a conflict with the mother of the defendant\u2019s son and her supporters. U.S. marshals had to be called to restore order.<\/p>\n
Sanchez told Slaughter he wanted to \u201cfully take responsibility\u201d for his \u201cchoices of words,\u201d but then went on to explain that the entire case was \u201creally about diction\u201d and disputed that they were threats.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am not at all apologetic how I love and protect my children,\u201d Sanchez said. He claimed he suffered \u201cemotional and physical abuse\u201d growing up and developed \u201cscapegoat child syndrome.\u201d He appeared eager to be deported back to Mexico, nodding along as Slaughter advised him that was a possibility.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen it comes to my relationship with this country, it\u2019s over,\u201d he said. \u201cGoodbye, good riddance. We\u2019re done.\u201d He claimed, \u201cMy son didn\u2019t feel safe in his mother\u2019s care,\u201d and added, \u201cI used to be an abused child. You learn not to say a (expletive) thing.\u201d<\/p>\n
As for his punishment, \u201cI believe time served is most appropriate,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd anything beyond that is basically pissing on the bullied kid trying to protect his kid.\u201d<\/p>\n
Assistant U.S. Attorney Diane B. Roldan told Slaughter, \u201cThis is a defendant who will do it again and again. \u2026 He has shown it today. \u2026 He hates (the judge he threatened) \u2026 He hates the mother of his child.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sanchez\u2019s \u201cgrievances makes him dangerous.\u201d<\/p>\n
The prosecutor also faulted Sanchez\u2019s \u201cchilling lack of remorse.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sanchez \u201crepeatedly\u201d violated restraining orders in the child custody case, Roldan said.<\/p>\n
The Orange County judge who Sanchez had threatened made a victim impact statement at the sentencing hearing. She requested that Sanchez receive 10 years in prison to deter others at a time when threats to judges are on the rise.<\/p>\n
During the trial, she said at the hearing, Sanchez would read the threats aloud, even though they did not help his defense because \u201che was just enjoying the reaction.\u201d<\/p>\n
She added, \u201cHis threats are specific and they\u2019re ongoing. \u2026 He threatened anyone who touched this case.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sanchez turned away from his ex-girlfriend as she told Slaughter about how he abused her.<\/p>\n
\u201cDefendant used to abuse me, to threaten my life,\u201d the ex-girlfriend said. \u201cAnd diminished me as a person. \u2026 His mission is to punish those he thinks wronged him. \u2026 Defendant threatened my life and family\u2019s life multiple times.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her anxiety worsened to the point she would ask co-workers to walk her to her car at the end of the day because she feared \u201can ambush,\u201d she said. \u201cMost of all I was in fear for my son.\u201d<\/p>\n
She was plagued with \u201cpanic attacks\u201d and required therapy, she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cByrom, you are an abuser, you prey on people, you are a monster,\u201d she said. \u201cBut I can say now that you have no power over me. I am not afraid of you anymore. You did not ruin me. I will never forgive you for the hell you put me through.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sanchez responded that his ex-girlfriend \u201cused to take my glasses off and punch me in the face. \u2026 And you\u2019re going to use the word \u2018abuse?\u2019 Whatever. \u2026 This is \u2018larping,\u2019 live-action role playing.\u201d<\/p>\n
During the trial, Roldan told jurors that Sanchez could have appealed the result in his child custody case, but \u201cinstead, the defendant chose to threaten and scare\u201d the judge.<\/p>\n
Referring to a video he posted on social media, Roldan said, \u201cHe\u2019s thinking of the most violent and grotesque ways to murder (the judge) \u2026 he wanted her to be afraid\u2026 He also threatened (the judge) in writing. \u2026 Those emails are this case.\u201d<\/p>\n
Roldan noted how Sanchez read one of the more damning emails aloud to jurors that included him saying, \u201d \u2026 it is time to die. I am more committed to murdering you than to being present as a father.\u201d<\/p>\n
Roldan dismissed Sanchez\u2019s claims in his testimony, insisting that he was joking.<\/p>\n
She argued that on one hand, he tried to evoke sympathy as a father who lost his custody case, but was also engaging in \u201cmorbid comedy. \u2026 It can\u2019t be both. But you know it\u2019s neither.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sanchez\u2019s threats forced Orange County sheriff\u2019s deputies to set up a command center and boost patrols in the Lamoreaux Justice Center on Oct. 13, 2023, Roldan said. Some employees stayed home, but the judge who he threatened testified that she didn\u2019t want one man to derail the administration of justice so she reported to work that day, Roldan said.<\/p>\n
The judge presided over Sanchez\u2019s custody case in 2021, and the threats started pouring in to her court\u2019s email account and from Instagram in mid-2023, Roldan said.<\/p>\n
The threats \u201cescalated\u201d from a demand for the judge to resign to pledges of violence, Roldan argued.<\/p>\n
Roldan pointed to a music video by rapper-singer Ashnikko that Zuniga Sanchez sent to the judge\u2019s email account and his choice to repeatedly replay it for jurors in the trial. The defendant played it twice during his closing arguments.<\/p>\n
A video he posted Oct. 5, 2023 \u201csays it all, his obsession,\u201d Roldan said.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe didn\u2019t resign\u201d as he demanded, the prosecutor argued. \u201cSo he\u2019s going to fire her.\u201d<\/p>\n
She also ridiculed his assertion in his opening statement in which he compared himself to Lassie or Scooby Doo.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe said he was a friendly dog raising issues of his son\u2019s case,\u201d Roldan said. \u201cI don\u2019t remember that episode. It is offensive and vile that he says that to you. It is a lie.\u201d<\/p>\n
She played a portion of the clip for jurors in which the defendant compared himself to a \u201cdangerous dog.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sanchez hinted that his custody case was based on his immigration status. He claimed he was earning $600,000 annually so he had no motive to \u201cflee to Mexico and kidnap my son.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sanchez said he was a Mexican national like his parents, who brought him to the U.S. when he was 18 months old.<\/p>\n
Authorities searching for fugitive who threatened Orange County judge<\/a><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By PAUL ANDERSON A 34-year-old man was sentenced on Thursday, March 5 to seven years in federal prison…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":79423,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[163,165,164,1312,723,138,100,136],"class_list":["post-206600","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-anaheim","tag-anaheim","tag-anaheim-headlines","tag-anaheim-news","tag-courts","tag-crime","tag-crime-and-public-safety","tag-news","tag-top-stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206600","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=206600"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206600\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/79423"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=206600"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=206600"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=206600"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}