Courts stiffen security

The letter began harmlessly enough:

"Judge Davis, I appear before you on Aug. 11, 2004," it began in a looping cursive script.

Then, the letter turned ugly.

"I'm writing to let you know I do not expect to get any more time, so don't let that thought cross your stupid racist mind," the letter instructed. "If you're stupid enough to give me any more time my n-----s will rape your wife, daughters and sons right in front of you, then kill you!"

It was only the second time in 4th District Judge Lynn Davis' 18 years on the bench that his life had been threatened by a defendant. And while he was suspicious of the letter's authenticity, he was alarmed enough to alert the Utah County Sheriff's Office.

"After what happened in Atlanta and Chicago, it's hard not to find something like that unsettling as a judge," Davis said. "You sort of do a double-take when someone says they're going to rape your wife and children in front of you. Somebody might be bizarre enough and off-base enough to actually do it."

While the letter turned out to be a fake (it was written by a white inmate under the name of a black inmate, possibly for racist motives), Davis says it underscores the heightened need for additional security in the state's courtrooms. In February, the mother and husband of a Chicago federal judge were slain in their home. Just eleven days later, a man opened fire in a Atlanta courtroom, killing a judge, a court reporter and a deputy.

Before those incidents, security in several courthouses within the 4th District was severely lacking. In Spanish Fork, Fillmore, Nephi and Heber there was no screening outside the court for weapons. Security consisted of one bailiff at those courthouses.

"The judges I talked to were alarmed by what happened in Atlanta, especially the judge in Spanish Fork," 4th District trial executive Paul Vance said. "We had a bad situation there where the place was just open. There was no screening at all."

Since Atlanta, that has changed. Spanish Fork now has a metal detector installed at the entrance and a sheriff's deputy to man it. Fillmore should get a deputy and metal detector by June, Vance said.

That metal detector will come from the 3rd District Court building in Sandy, which is closing down and moving to West Jordan. An X-ray machine will be taken from Sandy to the Orem courthouse.

"The big problem is funding. We have the necessary security equipment, but we don't have the funding to man it. We've been trying to get that funding for years," Vance said.