Felon Convicted of Threatening Alameda County Superior Court Judge

By Bay City News—

A five-time felon was convicted on Friday of threatening a public official for threatening to kill a judge who was handling his civil case.
 
An Alameda County jury deliberated for two days before delivering its verdict against 59-year-old Jamal Austin for his threat against Superior Court Judge Jacob Blea III, 62, made in a motion he filed in March 2013.

[Related article: Prosecutor Says Felon Who Threatened Pleasanton Judge Should…]
 
Prosecutor Neil Layton told jurors in his closing argument on Wednesday that although Austin's threat was written, not verbal, it appeared to be serious because it was the strongest and most specific of many threats he had made against Blea over the course of many months.
 
Layton said Austin wrote in his motion that Blea should be "removed or killed" and that it was the judge's "last chance to redeem yourself." Layton said Austin's motion came during his long-running appeal of another judge's decision to dismiss a lawsuit that Austin had filed against Emeryville police and Highland Hospital in Oakland.

The lawsuit alleged that excessive force had been used against him when he was arrested for an incident in 2009. Austin acted as his own attorney during his appeal and is acting as his own attorney in his criminal case as well.
 
According to Layton, Austin told Blea, who headed the Alameda County Superior Court's appellate division, "If you refuse to do the act now necessary to ensure the integrity of the judiciary is upheld don't blame anyone but yourself." Layton also said that in one motion Austin was "referencing public killings" such as the murder of Oakland Post Editor Chauncey Bailey in 2007 when Bailey was working on an investigative article about financial problems of the Your Black Muslim Bakery in Oakland.
 
The prosecutor told jurors that Blea reasonably feared for his safety because Austin was out of custody at the time even though he has a long criminal record that began when he was convicted of pimping in 1979.
 
Austin also has two forgery convictions as well as convictions for possession of a controlled substance and second-degree commercial robbery. Austin, who's also known as Thomas Robinson, was arrested after he filed his motion in March 2013 and has been in custody since then.
 
According to Layton, Blea testified during the trial that he feared for his life and took security precautions such as having police patrol the area around his house and installing a direct radio line to his local police department.
 
Austin admitted in his closing argument that, "I might have been wrong for my words" and some of the things he wrote were "totally wrong and unacceptable." But Austin said, "I'm not guilty" and he never thought anybody would believe that he seriously intended to kill Judge Blea.
 
Austin said he was only trying to draw attention to his case and send a message to Blea that if he didn't get his way in the appellate court he planned to "go public and talk to people like Louis Farrakhan, Jessie Jackson and Al Sharpton."
 
Austin faces up to three years in state prison for his conviction for threatening a public official. His sentencing date will be set on Monday. Austin used a wheelchair when he appeared in court during his trial. But Layton said he wasn't aware of Austin suffering any injuries and he hadn't used a wheelchair before his trial started.
 
Blea was appointed to the bench by former Gov. Pete Wilson in November 1997.