A Montana man faces years in prison at his Wednesday sentencing for threatening to assault former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy after becoming upset with the government for not shooting down a Chinese spy balloon that floated over the defendant's home city.
Richard Rogers, 45, of Billings, will appear before U.S. District Judge Susan Watters after a jury convicted him last year for threatening a member of Congress and making harassing phone calls to the FBI and congressional staff in which he routinely made vulgar and obscene comments.
The threat against McCarthy carries a maximum penalty of six years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Because Rogers has no criminal history, federal sentencing guidelines call for a shorter term, and his attorneys requested a sentence of probation.
Rogers, a former phone customer service representative, delivered the threat to a McCarthy staffer during a series of more than 100 calls to the Republican speaker’s office in just 75 minutes on Feb. 3, 2023, prosecutors said. That was one day after the Pentagon acknowledged it was tracking the spy balloon, which was later shot down off the Atlantic Coast.
Rogers testified at trial that his outraged calls to the FBI and McCarthy’s office were a form of civil disobedience. One of his lawyers said during the trial that Rogers “just wanted to be heard.”
Prosecutors asked the court to send a “strong deterrent message” that threats against public officials are not protected by the First Amendment. They asked for a sentence of two years in prison.
“Rogers’ conduct in this case contributes to a rising and concerning myth that the First Amendment somehow gives a person complete immunity from all consequences as long as their speech or conduct is framed as ‘political protest,’” prosecutors wrote in a court filing.
Defense attorney Daniel Ball asked for Rogers to be spared prison and sentenced to supervised release.
Threats against public officials in the U.S. have risen sharply in recent years, including against members of Congress, their spouses, election workers and local officials. Rogers’ case was among more than 8,000 threats to lawmakers investigated by the U.S. Capitol Police in 2023.
A 30-year-old Billings man was sentenced last year to 2 1/2 years in federal prison after leaving voicemail messages threatening to kill former Democratic U.S. Sen. Jon Tester and his family. Another Montana man was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in 2023 for threats against Tester.
