A Tucson man was sentenced to a year of unsupervised probation after he was found guilty of threatening Mark Finchem, a former state representative who unsuccessfully ran for Arizona secretary of state in 2022.
The Pima County Attorney’s Office said Ronald Keith Halverson called Finchem’s office in Oro Valley on July 11, 2022, and left a voicemail saying he saw Finchem with former President Donald Trump and threatened to walk up behind Finchem and cut his throat at a supermarket.
In addition to probation, Halverson will have to complete an anger management course, a civic responsibility course, and restitution of $346 to Finchem for travel expenses to the court. Finchem didn’t attend the sentencing.
Pima County Attorney Laura Conover noted that cases involving verbal threats can be difficult to prosecute as they are often intertwined with First Amendment rights.
“While the First Amendment defines us as a nation, it’s also important to stress that we will absolutely prosecute threats made with specific intent, planning, mode, and location. And today we take another affirmative step in ensuring public trust that the law will be applied equally, regardless of politics,” Conover said in a written statement.