A Tucson man was sentenced to one year of unsupervised probation after being found guilty of threatening former state Rep. Mark Finchem, who ran unsuccessfully for Arizona Secretary of State in 2022.
According to the Pima County Attorney's Office, Ronald Keith Halverson called Finchem's office in Oro Valley on July 11, 2022, and saw Finchem with former President Donald Trump. He left a voicemail saying he saw Finchem at the supermarket and walked up behind him and threatened to cut his throat.
In addition to probation, Halverson must take an anger management course, a civic responsibility course, and repay Finchem $346 for travel expenses to court. Finchem did not attend the sentencing.
Pima County Attorney Laura Conover said cases involving verbal threats can be difficult to prosecute because they are often intertwined with First Amendment rights.
“While the First Amendment defines us as a nation, it is also important to emphasize that we will absolutely prosecute threats made with specific intent, design, manner, and location. And today, I “We have taken another positive step to ensure public confidence that the law is applied equally, regardless of politics,” Conover said in a written statement.
Pima County Deputy Prosecutor Matthew Kaylor, who prosecuted the case, echoed Conover's thoughts.
“This is important because there are threats against politicians across the country,” Keillor said. “There have also been threats against other politicians in Arizona.”
Finchem gained local and national attention during his campaign for secretary of state, repeatedly pushing false claims that Donald Trump won the 2020 election and that Arizona's election was in jeopardy.
Finchem retained the latter point after losing to Adrian Fontes. Fontes, a Democrat, defeated Republican candidate Finchem by more than 120,000 votes.
Last year, a judge ordered Mr. Finchem and his attorney to pay more than $48,000 in legal fees as punishment for what the judge called a “baseless” challenge to the race results. .
