KANSAS CITY, Mo. — An Independence man who made threats that included racial slurs to a Jackson County judge in 2023 has been sentenced to 11 years in prison, the Jackson County Prosecuting Attorney's Office announced Friday.
Michael A. Deblois, 42, was convicted in July of tampering with a judicial officer and harassment motivated by discrimination to frighten or disturb another person.
Deblois is facing seven years on the tampering conviction and four years on the harassment conviction.
According to court documents, a 16th Circuit judge's office received multiple voicemails from Deblois with hateful, angry, threatening and harassing messages.
Officials said that when office employees reached out to him, he used profanity and racial slurs.
Deblois began leaving the messages on March 27, 2023, and left about 14 to 15 voicemails over a 24-hour span.
He appeared to be upset about not being granted a court hearing in the voicemails, which were transcribed in court documents.
In one of the voicemails, Deblois admits to stalking the courthouse and even following people home.
"I’m not doing anything to a single member of your f****** staff that you didn’t do to me first," Deblois said in the voicemail. "Eye for an Eye, makes you wonder what I do have planned.”
Jackson County Sheriff's deputies and a detective later investigated the calls.
Judge Kenneth R. Garrett III, who was threatened by Deblois, made the following statement to the court on Friday:
Today I come before you not only as the victim in this case but also as a public servant. My whole career has been serving the public as my Mother too was a public servant for over 40 years before her retirement in 2009.
Public service is a honor and sometimes a difficult task but, we strive to serve the public the best we can so citizens can have the utmost confidence in our government. That is important to me.
Without confidence in our system of government our republic will fail and chaos will ensue.
As a judge I work as hard as I can to follow the rule of law through the U.S. Constitution, Missouri Constitution and the statutes enacted by our legislative and executive branch. I also work hard to ensure that people are treated fairly and courteously. I work everyday, even on weekends and holidays to achieve this goal.
I am not alone in this resolve as there are countless public servants who do the same. Today, I represent them from all three branches of government. Legislative, from the local level from city councils to school boards to our members of Congress. Executive from mayors and police officers, governors to the President of the United States and judicial from municipal judges to Justices who sit on the United States Supreme Court.
Threats to public servants should not be tolerated and under no circumstances are these threats appropriate. Simply put, threats to public servants undermine the government and serve no legitimate purpose but to stifle government action. Unfortunately, we have seen people bypass threats entirely and physically attack public servants. This has happened in not only this community but also throughout this nation with public servants who have lost their lives for doing their job. This is a sad state of affairs in today’s society for those who are attempting to do their job and serve the public. Instead of going through the proper channels to challenge a public servant’s decision, citizens are now bypassing this avenue for relief and proceed to threaten them with violence. This behavior must stop for government to function properly and we as citizens must begin to air our grievances with civility and humility instead of discord and chaos. This public discord and chaos empowers individuals to act in the same manner and have a lack of civility toward their public servants.
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