The Long Island man arrested for making death threats to a pair of US Senators over the Supreme Court nomination of Brett Kavanaugh also targeted…
The Long Island man arrested for making death threats to a pair of US Senators over the Supreme Court nomination of Brett Kavanaugh also targeted the judge himself, it was revealed in court Friday.
“He made phone calls to Judge Kavanaugh directly,” Prosecutor Justina Geraci told a federal courtroom in Central Islip as a bewildered looking Ronald DeRisi, the accused menace, sat in a wheelchair nearby.
The 74-year-old was arrested earlier Friday for leaving violent voicemail messages with GOP Sen. Chuck Grassley and Susan Collins, of Iowa and Maine, sources said.
Geraci did not say how many calls were allegedly placed to the jurist, or share the content of the calls.
But the prosecutor did note Friday that more than a dozen rounds of ammunition were found in DeRisi’s Smithtown, Long Island home, alongside a BB gun.
“They found 15 rounds of ammunition in a credenza in an area of his home, near his wallet and his medication,” she told Magistrate Judge Gary R. Brown. She said the septuagenarian was known to have firearms, but appeared to have recently given them to his sons.
DeRisi remained mostly quiet throughout the proceeding, at one point telling Brown “I can’t hear.”
He appeared confused as he was first wheeled into the courtroom, even turning to reporters to ask “Where’s my wife?”
Defense attorney Peter Brill said his client’s brain had been shrinking since 2015, and it was “affecting his behavior.”
“His impulse control had gone out the door by 2015,” Brill said. “I can tell you that Mr. DeRisi is not a violent person, but he is a very belligerent person. ”
“It’s impossible for him to keep his mouth shut,” the lawyer added.
Brown ordered that DeRisi undergo a psychiatric evaluation.
He was held without bail.
