Man arrested over threats to kill McDermott

A Palm Springs, Calif., man was arrested Wednesday on a charge that he threatened to kill U.S. Rep. Jim McDermott and his family in expletive-laden phone messages in December.

Charles Turner Habermann, 32, is charged with one count of threatening a federal official for two voice messages authorities say he left at McDermott's office the night of Dec. 9.

Habermann's arrest comes amid a national furor over violent political rhetoric following last week's shooting of U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, an Arizona Democrat. But the U.S. Attorney's Office in Seattle said there was no connection and that Habermann's arrest had been planned before the Arizona attack.

In his first phone message, Habermann said he'd seen McDermott, the Seattle Democrat now in his 12th term, on TV criticizing a deal reached by President Obama with Republican leaders that preserved Bush-era tax cuts for the wealthy, according to a criminal complaint unsealed Wednesday.

"He's a piece of human filth. He's a liar, he's a communist, he's a piece of [expletive] garbage," the complaint quotes Habermann as saying in the recorded message.

Habermann said Thomas Jefferson, George Washington and other U.S. founding fathers would "blow his [McDermott's] brains out" if they met him. He then threatened to kill McDermott, as well as his friends and family, the complaint said.

In a second call, according to the complaint, Habermann said he had "a lot of money" and "a lot of friends" and would pay people to kill McDermott.

Habermann left his name and mobile-phone number in both recorded messages and was interviewed by the FBI the next day.

He told agents he'd been drinking when he placed the calls but said he was "functioning" and remembered leaving the messages, the complaint said.

Habermann told agents he never intended to actually harm McDermott, saying he had "too much to lose" — referring to a $3 million trust fund, according to the complaint.

Habermann made his initial appearance Wednesday afternoon in U.S. District Court in Riverside, Calif. U.S. Magistrate Judge David Bristow set bond at $300,000 and placed him on home detention pending his next court date in Washington state on Jan. 25. Habermann could be released as early as Thursday.

If convicted, he could face up to 10 years in prison.

In an interview Wednesday, McDermott said he'd immediately reported the threatening phone messages to law enforcement out of concern for his staff's safety.

But he said neither those threats nor the Giffords shooting would stop him from public appearances.

"This is obviously a very, very tense time in the country," he said. "But I don't think that's a time you pull back."

It wasn't the first time Habermann has been accused of threatening an elected official. Last March, he was investigated by the California Highway Patrol for voice messages threatening a California state legislator. He was upset with the federal health-care bill and with tax money spent on immigrants and Latinos, according to the complaint.

Habermann apologized, saying he was drunk and had smoked marijuana before leaving those messages. He was issued a warning.

Last week's Arizona shooting left six people dead, including a federal judge and a 9-year-old girl. Several others, including Giffords, were wounded.

The accused shooter, Jared Loughner, made rambling, incoherent Internet postings before the attacks, and it was unclear whether he had any political motivation.

But that hasn't stopped a heated political debate over whether angry partisan rhetoric is to blame for the shooting, or for a surge in threats against members of Congress, particularly during last year's health-care debate.

Two Washington state men were arrested for threatening Democratic U.S. Sen. Patty Murray last year. One is serving a one-year prison sentence.

McDermott said he didn't want to "connect the dots" between particular political statements and recent threats or attacks.

But, he added: "We do know that violent speech is dangerous. That's why you have freedom of speech, but you cannot yell 'fire' in a crowded theater."

Jim Brunner: 206-515-5628