Facing a long prison term: The provocative book that led to the author's conviction

Robert Philip Ivers, 73, from Minnesota, did not keep his dangerous thoughts to himself; he put them in writing in a 236-page document titled "How to Kill a Federal Judge" and even began distributing copies of it. Now, he has been convicted of threatening judges in the United States.

It is not just about a particularly provocative title. According to the prosecution, Ivers distributed a three-page pamphlet in which he described the book as a guide "designed to teach extremists how to plan, train, hunt, stalk, and kill any person, including judges, their family members, politicians, and others."

Those who raised the initial suspicion were library staff in Wayzata, Minnesota. They reported that they saw Ivers printing copies of the manuscript on-site and showing them to staff. In a search conducted later in his vehicle, 20 spiral-bound copies were found.

Prosecutors defined the manuscript as a "manifesto" and claimed that the names of several people and judges appeared in it. One of them was federal judge Robert Pratt, with whom Ivers already had a prior history, when he presided in 2019 over a trial in which Ivers was convicted of threatening to kill federal judge Wilhelmina Wright and sentenced to 18 months in prison.

According to the indictment, this time Ivers also threatened Pratt and an attorney who testified that he heard him threatening to kill Wright. A copy of the manuscript was even sent to that attorney's office.

Meanwhile, according to the prosecution, Ivers told authorities that he had sent copies to the judges involved in the case as well, and to all nine justices of the Supreme Court of the United States.

A federal jury in St. Paul convicted Ivers on all three counts against him, including sending threatening communications by mail and threatening to murder a federal judge. His sentence has not yet been handed down.