A federal jury in Dallas on Wednesday convicted 67-year-old Donald Ray McCray of mailing threatening communications to federal judges and of sending a hoax white powder package that temporarily shut down the federal courthouse in Fort Worth. The scare forced officials to close the building while hazardous-materials teams figured out what they were dealing with and secured the scene. The verdict came after a two-day trial and roughly an hour of jury deliberations, with sentencing set for Aug. 19, 2026.
Jurors found McCray guilty on April 15, 2026 of three counts of mailing threatening communications to judges in the Northern District of Texas and the Eastern District of New York, and one count of sending a hoax biological weapon to the Fort Worth federal courthouse, according to the Department of Justice. Prosecutors say he now faces up to 10 years in prison on each of the mailing-threat counts and up to five years for the hoax conviction, along with a possible $250,000 fine.
“Threats and disruptions to the orderly functioning of our federal courts will not be tolerated,” U.S. Attorney Ryan Raybould said. The FBI’s Dallas special agent in charge said the bureau “takes threats to federal officials and courthouse personnel seriously” and thanked state and local partners for their help in the investigation, per the Department of Justice.
What Prosecutors Told The Jury
Prosecutors said McCray mailed multiple letters from a Texas state prison in March 2025 that contained white powder and were addressed to clerks at the federal courthouses in Fort Worth and Amarillo. Jurors were shown copies of the letters, transcripts of McCray’s own statements from a post-indictment hearing and lab results on the mystery powder, evidence that helped establish the hoax charge, according to CBS News.
How The Case Unfolded
Court documents unsealed last year show that an Amarillo grand jury returned an indictment in June 2025 alleging McCray mailed threats to a judge in Brooklyn and to a judge in Fort Worth, and sent powder-filled envelopes to the courthouses in Amarillo and Fort Worth, as reported by KFDA. The case triggered extra safety measures inside the judiciary: a federal judge in Amarillo later recused himself after a letter referenced attempts to kill a judge, and records show McCray was serving a state sentence at the Robertson Unit when the mailings went out, according to reporting by KVII.
What The Federal Charges Cover
McCray’s convictions fall under federal laws that make it a crime to use the mail to send threatening communications and to spread false information about biological threats. The mailing-threat counts are brought under 18 U.S.C. § 876, while the hoax biological-weapon count falls under 18 U.S.C. § 1038, which lays out the federal penalties for false threats and hoaxes…