(ReliableNews.org) – Threatening to murder anyone is a crime, but threatening to kill a member of Congress is much worse. That’s exactly what Joseph F. Morelli went to prison for doing. A judge has now denied a Republican congresswoman’s request to receive restitution from him.
In August, Chief US District Judge Brenda K. Sannes sentenced Morelli to three months in prison for threatening Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA). The congresswoman asked the court to order the defendant to pay $65,257, the cost to construct a fence around her home. She also wanted $1,375, the price she paid to reconfigure the security cameras around her house.
On November 14, Sannes denied the request from the lawmaker’s attorneys. She said that restitution is meant to pay for property loss, but said the fence and security camera reconfigurations were “for personal security enhancements.” The judge further stated that the congresswoman’s legal team didn’t prove the enhancements were the result of Morelli’s threats or if they were to protect her from other threats.
A press release from the US Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of New York stated Morelli pleaded guilty to threatening the congresswoman. He made the phone calls in March 2022. In one of them, he called Greene and left a message saying he was going to hurt her physically. In another call, he told her that he was going to show her “what violence truly is” by paying someone $500 to “crack [her] skull.” And in a third voicemail, Morelli said that even if he went to jail, he would make sure someone would “get” her.
The day before the judge decided on restitution, federal authorities charged Sean Patrick Cirillo for allegedly threatening Greene and her staff on November 8. The Atlanta. Georgia, man is accused of calling her office in Washington, DC office twice. He said that he had a “sniper rifle” and he was going to “kill her next week.”
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