WORKING TO ADDRESS THREATS AGAINST FLORIDA'S JUDGES

'You can't connect the dots if you don't collect the dots'

The Florida Supreme Court’s phased response to rising threats against judges, including forming a workgroup last year, is already showing encouraging results, says a national expert.

Lawmakers on Friday approved a $114.5 billion state budget that includes nearly $1 million for a workgroup recommendation to hire deputy court marshals to serve as a clearing house for threats against judges statewide and to coordinate a response with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

“I think it’s so needed, this is a great positive step,” says John Muffler, a retired U.S. marshal and judicial security consultant. “If you’re not collecting information, how are you going to employ resources to mitigate the problem?”

Chief Justice Carlos Muñiz formed the Workgroup on Judicial Security in a March 2025 order.

The 10-member panel, chaired by Fourth District Court of Appeal Lance Day, includes appellate, circuit, and county court judges, trial court administrators, and court marshals from across the state. The panel was directed to make recommendations on threat detection and response to “promote enhanced security of judges and court system staff in this state.”

Justices are reviewing a final workgroup report that was due Friday, the same day the Legislature signed off on the workgroup’s “interim” recommendation.

The proposed funding is a good first step, Muffler says, although the budget won’t be final until Gov. Ron DeSantis, who has line-item veto authority, signs the legislation.

One of the next challenges, Muffler says, will be training judges to be more “situationally aware,” and local law enforcement to be more aggressive about responding to threats.

“My only hope would be that they [local law enforcement] get the right training and understand what the rules of engagement are.”

State judges handle 95% of all litigation in the country, including highly contentious family law cases, but unlike their federal counterparts, they lack a U.S. Marshals Service with a separate division devoted to judicial security.

Most local police lack training to properly respond to threats against judges, Muffler contends. When asked to investigate a threat, police usually discover they lack enough evidence to make an arrest and move on, Muffler says.

“A lot of sheriff’s and law enforcement default to probable cause,” he says. “You’re not making an arrest here you’re trying to mitigate the issue.”

A recent National Judicial College study found that 26% of judges who reported a threat never heard back from law enforcement, Muffler says.

“It’s not going to lead to an arrest, but these cases need somebody to look at them, investigate them, write a report, file it, so you can connect the dots,” he said. “You’re never going to connect the dots if you don’t collect the dots.”

Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gaultieri, an attorney, is a welcome exception, Muffler says. Deputies in Pinellas respond to and carefully document judicial threats, regardless of the potential to make an arrest, Muffler says.

“They could be a template the workgroup could use for the rest of the state,” Muffler says.

A former chief inspector for the U.S. Marshals Service, Muffler is a principal at Aequitas Global Security LLC, and a senior advisor with Gavin de Becker & Associates, which provides security for public figures worldwide. Muffler teaches for the National Judicial College and has given presentations to the Florida Conference of Circuit Judges and the Conference of County Court Judges of Florida. For the past eight years, he has been a faculty member at the Florida College of Advanced Judicial Studies.

Florida state judges, like their federal counterparts, have experienced a significant increase in death threats and harassment, Muffler says, although the increase is difficult to quantify.

“Half the states track them, half don’t,” Muffler says. “Florida is one that doesn’t.”

In a recent newsletter article, Muffler cited a Global Project Against Hate study that found a 327 percent increase in violent threats and impeachment calls for judges on social media platforms 4Chan, Gab, and X.

Muffler lives in Pinellas County and is not a member of the Supreme Court workgroup. But next month, he will appear in Nashville before the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges with someone who is, Dixie County Judge Jennifer Johnson.

Johnson has been campaigning for judicial security since she became the target of death threats and viscous online trolling by a disgruntled litigant. In 2024, the perpetrator received a 15-year sentence for making a “written or electronic threat to kill.” Johnson described her experience in a recent national forum [see Florida Bar News story.]

Muffler worked with Johnson during the incident, and the two were featured prominently in a recent New York Times investigation of threats against state judges.

The story notes that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security issued a notice to law enforcement last year warning about a surge in the harassment of judges.

Florida is not immune. Last week, a Southwest Florida man was sentenced to nearly two years in prison for “pizza doxing” two Hillsborough County judges.

Jonathan Mark Miller admitted ordering the delivery of more than $500 worth of pizzas to the two judges’ homes last spring.

Once considered a college prank, pizza doxing has become something much more sinister, Muffler says.

In January, two days before they were shot and seriously injured, Tippecanoe County Superior Judge Steven Meyer and his wife were the target of a pizza doxing at their Indiana home, Muffler notes. Both survived their injuries. Six suspects were charged, including a man who was about to be tried for domestic abuse in Meyer’s court.

Meyers didn’t report the pizza doxing, thinking it was “weird,” Muffler says, adding that police believe the attackers were seeking to prove that Meyer lived in the home.

“The purpose of these deliveries is simply to let the judge know that their home address is known – an intimidation tactic,” Muffler says.

Muffler advises any judge who receives an unsolicited pizza delivery to immediately report it to law enforcement.

One of five charges the Florida Supreme Court gave to the judicial security workgroup was to “review options for reducing risks from the publication or other release of personally identifiable information of judges and court staff.”

For the past two years, Muffler has been working with supporters of a legislative proposal that would make it easier for judges, lawmakers and other public officials to have their personal identifying information scrubbed from the internet. Muffler says the bill is modeled after a New Jersey law that was inspired by the 2020 murder of Daniel Anderl, the son of U.S. District Judge Esther Salas. Anderl, 20, died protecting his mother from a disgruntled litigant.

Republican Sen. Jennifer Bradley, a Fleming Island attorney, sponsored SB 1064 during the regular 2026 legislative session. The bill would have prohibited data brokers from disclosing the personal data of any “covered person” who makes a formal request. The bill provided a civil remedy for failure to comply. SB 1610 died when it failed to get a committee hearing.

Muffler believes it would have made a difference in a judicial assassination attempt that occurred in Florida in 2013, when he was still with the U.S. Marshals Service.

U.S. District Judge Timmothy Corrigan, a former chief judge with the Middle District of Florida, was in the living room of his Jacksonville home when a bullet shattered a window and missed his head by inches.

“The person who shot at him, Aaron Richardson, paid $1.94 on People Finder to find his home address,” Muffler said.