Main image: the Lamoreaux Justice Center (Orange County Sheriff’s Office). Inset: Byrom Zuniga Sanchez (Federal Bureau of Investigation).
A California man was recently indicted for allegedly threatening to kill the judge who oversaw his family law case, according to federal prosecutors.
Byrom Zuniga Sanchez, 32, stands accused of two counts of threats by interstate and foreign communication over a series of emails and posts targeting an Orange County judge in the summer of 2023.
“I am more committed to murdering you than I am to being present as a father,” one email cited in a 24-page criminal complaint reads.
The identity of the judge is not disclosed in the charging documents obtained by Law&Crime, but federal prosecutors allege Zuniga’s threats were directed against the same judge who presided over a family law matter involving the defendant between 2019 and 2021.
“It is time you die,” one email sent in July 2023 reads, according to the five-page indictment. “Nothing will change course and nothing will stop the guaranteed accountability requiring your life as payment.”
The FBI also claims Zuniga threatened to kill various other people employed in the U.S. legal system and law enforcement.
“You’re already dead,” the July 2023 email allegedly continues. “The remainder of my life will be dedicated to assassinating judges, attorneys, and a police station’s entire shift staff.”
The family law matter that appears to have so upset the defendant is not directly spelled out in the charging documents, however, the issue appears to have something to do with child custody.
“You think I give a f— about living in the US?” the July 2023 email allegedly goes on. “My hatred for your government isn’t based on the discrimination I’ve experiences my entire life, it is based on the putrid rot in government that betrays children in their most formative years. A prudent judge understands children are safest and most loved having both father and mother in their life, or just the father.”
The July 2023 email forms the basis of one count in the case. An earlier email, sent in June 2023, forms the basis of the second count.
“Your suicide doesn’t suffice, and it won’t cure nor redirect what is coming for you,” the earlier email allegedly reads. “I haven’t received your resignation, and you’ve failed to justify your existence after all damage you have caused. You have until EOB to determine if you will quit, or be a fraction of the person you present yourself as.”
The charging documents go on to contain numerous highly-detailed and exceedingly graphic ways in which the judge in question is threatened with death and extreme, torture-like violence.
“Nothing can save you, and nothing can protect you,” Zuniga allegedly wrote. “Pelosi’s husband got hammered in the presence of police. What makes you think anyone is going to spare your life?”
Authorities also cite several Instagram posts in which Zuniga allegedly threatened law enforcement.
According to the complaint, the judge in question fears for their life, and the life of their family, due to the emails — saying the fear “has resulted in increased stress, anxiety, and caused sleepless nights.”
Authorities allege the judge’s former court email address was included at least one of the Instagram posts. That email address was connected to a judge who worked at the Lamoreaux Justice Center in Orange County — the same courthouse where Zuniga was involved in the family law dispute. Additionally, authorities say some posts and emails explicitly referenced the courthouse itself.
The complaint adds one final point against the defendant:
ZUNIGA is the subject of multiple domestic violence protective orders and a workplace violence order. ZUNIGA has multiple warrants in Orange County for state criminal offenses, including evading police/reckless driving, invasion of privacy, violation of a court order, and criminal threats.
Zuniga was arrested on Feb. 27 in San Diego, according to a press release issued by the U.S. Department of Justice on Monday.
“The chilling threats allegedly made by Zuniga Sanchez via e-mail and online caused profound fear for many people in the legal and law enforcement community, and forced some to take extra security precautions,” Amir Ehsaei, the acting assistant director in charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles field office, said in a statement. “The FBI and our partners take such threats extremely seriously so that judges and others who make difficult decisions every day don’t suffer needlessly for simply carrying out their duties.”
