CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A Taylorsville inmate was sentenced for sending mail threatening to kill the judge, the judge’s family, the District Attorney, and the 12 jurors who convicted him of the crime.
Joel Michael Cliett, 45, was sentenced to 30 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release, for mailing a threatening communication, William T. Stetzer, Acting U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina announced.
According to filed court documents and Wednesday’s sentencing hearing, on Aug. 21, 2020, Cliett sent a threatening communication via U.S. Mail to a state judge in Gaston County.
In the letter, Cliett claimed he was wrongly convicted of a crime, and threatened to kill the state judge, the judge’s family, the District Attorney, and the 12 jurors who convicted him of the crime. According to a news release, Cliett further stated in the letter that, “With enough C-4 I can kill all of you through the mail.”
Cliett also boasted in the letter that “There is nothing you can do to me.” Cliett sent the threatening letter while he was incarcerated at the Alexander Correctional Institution in Taylorsville. Cliett pleaded guilty on May 13, 2021, to mailing a threatening communication.
He is currently in federal custody. The sentence of imprisonment was ordered to run consecutive to the North Carolina state sentence he is currently serving associated with his prior state convictions, according to officials.
