Idaho man sentenced to 8 years for threats to kill federal judge and prosecutor

A 28-year-old Idaho man has been sentenced to eight years in federal prison for threatening to murder, assault, or kidnap a federal judge and a federal prosecutor, according to prosecutors.

Nathanael Michael West was sentenced to 96 months in prison and three years of supervised release. The sentence will run consecutively to two prior federal sentences he received in 2020 and 2022 for similar convictions in the District of Idaho.

Prosecutors said West was serving a state burglary sentence in an Idaho prison in February 2023 when he mailed a threatening letter to Assistant U.S. Attorney David Robins, who had prosecuted two of his previous cases. The letter included graphic threats to assault, kidnap, torture, mutilate, and murder the prosecutor.

Less than two weeks later, in March 2023, West sent another letter to Chief U.S. District Judge David C. Nye, who had sentenced him in October 2022, threatening to assault and kill the judge.

A federal grand jury in Idaho indicted West in August 2024 on four counts, including mailing threatening communications and threatening a federal law enforcement officer and a federal judge with intent to retaliate. He pleaded guilty to all charges on July.

“The 96-month sentence in this case is appropriate and justified, reflecting the seriousness, brazen, and violent nature of the defendant’s persistent threats,” U.S. Attorney Scott E. Bradford said in a statement. “The defendant’s deliberate actions were not only incredibly personal to the victims in this case, but they were also an assault on the integrity of the criminal justice system.”