• Arthur Ray Hanson II was sentenced to one year and nine months in prison for leaving threatening phone messages for Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis and Fulton County Sheriff Pat Labat.
• Hanson left voicemails that prosecutors say were laced with profanity and racial slurs last summer when he was upset about an investigation into former President Donald Trump.
• Hanson pleaded guilty in June to leaving threatening phone messages. He cried as he apologized to Willis and Labat at Tuesday’s hearing.

An Alabama man who left threatening phone messages for Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis and the county sheriff last summer because he was upset over an investigation into former President Donald Trump was sentenced Tuesday to nearly two years in prison.

Arthur Ray Hanson II, of Huntsville, made the calls a little more than a week before Trump and 18 others are to be indicted in Fulton County in August 2023 for efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election. Federal prosecutors say Hanson left voicemails filled with profanity and racial slurs for Willis and Fulton County Sheriff Pat Labat.

U.S. District Judge JP Boulee in Atlanta said he found Hanson’s behavior “appalling” and that the victims’ fear was “real and legitimate.” He sentenced Hanson to one year and nine months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release. He also ordered Hanson to pay a $7,500 fine.

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Hanson pleaded guilty in June to leaving threatening phone messages. Speaking for nearly 10 minutes during Tuesday’s hearing, Hanson wept as he apologized to Willis and Labat.

“I’m really sorry I made those calls,” he said. “That’s not me.”

Willis told the judge that the threats made her fear not only for herself, but for the lives of her daughters and her father. Before being a prosecutor, she is a mother, she told the judge: “My mother was very scared.”

Arthur Ray Hanson II of Huntsville, Alabama, was sentenced to nearly two years in prison for leaving threatening phone messages for Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis and Fulton County Sheriff Pat Labat last summer when Hanson was angry because of an investigation into former President Donald Trump. (Alex Slitz-Pool/Getty Images)

Labat also briefly addressed the court, saying the threats exposed his family to the “ugly side of the job.”

Defense attorney Tyler Wolas told the judge that Hanson has a history of alcohol abuse. In the plea for a lesser sentence, he also said Hanson suffers from grand mal seizures and was diagnosed with bipolar disorder after his arrest. Wolas noted that Hanson has completed an anger management course and regularly attends Alcoholics Anonymous meetings.

Three of Hanson’s friends and his 19-year-old son told the judge that he was a kind and generous person and that those phones did not reflect the man they knew.

Hanson said he had been drinking and doesn’t remember leaving the messages. He said he was “repulsed and sickened” when he heard the recordings. He said he’s not racist, though he admitted it could sound like one, and said Willis and Labat don’t deserve to be threatened.

He used to be someone who commented casually online and allowed himself to get caught up in a “social media frenzy,” he said, adding that he had quit social media and stopped drinking.

The August 14, 2023 Fulton County indictment was the fourth criminal case brought against Trump in as many months and was widely anticipated. When reporters asked shortly before he was returned if Trump had taken a photo of him in case of indictment, the sheriff said: “Unless somebody tells me otherwise, we follow our normal practices and so we don’t your status matters, we” I’ll have a photo ready for you.”

Hanson called the Fulton County government’s customer service line and left voicemails with the prosecutor and sheriff on Aug. 6, 2023. Prosecutors included the transcript of the messages in a sentencing memorandum filed with the court.

In a message to Willis, Hanson warned her to be careful, that she wouldn’t always have people around to protect her and that there would be times when she would be vulnerable. “When you’re impeaching Trump on the fourth impeachment, whenever you’re alone, look over your shoulder,” he said, according to the transcript.

In the message to Labat, Hanson threatened the sheriff, warning him not to take a photo of Trump. “I’m just telling you, if you take a picture of the president and you’re the reason it happened, you’re probably going to have some bad (problem) happen to you,” the voicemail said, according to court records.

Hanson’s attorneys had asked that he be sentenced to probation and community service or home confinement rather than prison. They noted that his 19-year-old son lives with him and that his mother has been diagnosed with terminal cancer and has little time to live.

Prosecutor Bret Hobson called Hanson’s crime “incredibly serious” and said he had caused real harm to the victims and their families. He asked for the sentence that was given, which was at the low end of federal sentencing guidelines. He argued that anyone who believes that he is threatening a public official “he must believe that prison is a possibility.”

Boulee said he would have given Hanson a longer sentence, but he took into account what his lawyers and loved ones said, as well as the recommendation of prosecutors. But he made it clear he found Hanson’s behavior unacceptable.

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“To add insult to injury, you didn’t just attack them for doing their job, you attacked them because of the color of their skin,” Boulee said. He said the racial slurs in the messages were an “attempt to make them feel disadvantaged and less valued”.

Willis said after the hearing that he forgave Hanson. She said it was important for the judge to mention the racist nature of the threats so black people know they can walk into a courtroom and feel protected.

Willis is running for re-election, and the case against Trump is largely on hold while a preliminary appeal is pending. But when asked if she plans to continue her prosecution if Trump wins next month’s presidential election, Willis said she plans to “continue to pursue every case in my office.”