Judge testifies about inmate’s alleged threat to ‘chop’ him up

It was a reversal of roles Tuesday as a Benton-Franklin Superior Court judge found himself in the witness seat.

The 15 minutes that Judge Alex Ekstrom spent on the stand is highly unusual for a sitting judge.

However, Ekstrom was called to testify because prosecutors believe he was the target of Brandon L. VanWinkle’s threats to chop up a judge.

VanWinkle, 38, is on trial for the rarely used charge of intimidating a judge, along with felony harassment of a criminal justice participant.

The second count is for VanWinkle’s former defense attorney, Alexandria Sheridan, who also testified Tuesday.

Ekstrom acknowledged being concerned after learning of the alleged threats made against him on Dec. 30.

“It’s not the first time I’ve been threatened, so I’ve taken measures before (this case) and here as well,” he said. “I’d rather not discuss specific protective measures because I believe that may compromise those measures. Suffice to say, I’ve taken them.”

When Deputy Prosecutor Brendan Siefken asked if Ekstrom believed VanWinkle could carry out the threat, the judge said that’s a difficult question. He noted that he has a bailiff and often corrections officers in the courtroom.

“That said, it’s a human endeavor and things happen,” Ekstrom told jurors. “By example, there is an individual who escaped out of this very courtroom into the community from custody. So there’s always a level of concern because we know that no system is perfect.”

On Dec. 17, Ekstrom was presiding over the Benton County Superior Court criminal docket when VanWinkle attacked a convicted child abuser in the jury box because he disagreed with the man’s short sentence.

After Ekstrom observed VanWinkle punching the other man, he ordered everybody out of the courtroom and took a recess, he said. Corrections officers got the situation under control, removed VanWinkle, and court resumed 15 minutes later.

VanWinkle was required to wear a belly chain and leg chains at his next court appearance until Ekstrom could conduct a security hearing. Normally, inmates are only handcuffed for court proceedings.

Sheridan testified Tuesday that in her client’s absence, she objected to Ekstrom’s order for extra restraints. Then on Dec. 30, one day before VanWinkle’s next court hearing, she went to the Benton County jail to inform him of the ruling, so he would know what to expect.

Sheridan — who was senior staff attorney for the Office of Public Defense at the time — was escorted by two corrections officers to VanWinkle’s cell, since there was no room for her to securely talk to him.

Talking through an open window in his cell door, Sheridan told VanWinkle he would have a security hearing the next day, to discuss what restraints should be used while in court because of his behavior.

VanWinkle proceeded to call deputy prosecutor Kristin McRoberts “a name and said that he was going to nail her to her desk and leave her there,” Sheridan said. “He said that he would cut up the judge in chambers and not allow anybody to clean it up.”

Sheridan said “no” when asked if VanWinkle appeared to be joking or laughing when he made those statements.

“I told him to stop saying that. That he could not threaten a judge or prosecutor,” she said.

VanWinkle became upset when Sheridan told him it wasn’t necessary to subpoena a witness in his drug case, she said.

“He began yelling at me and telling me that, ‘You will do what I tell you. You’re going to do what I say,’ ” Sheridan testified. “I told him ‘No.’ He then said, ‘I’m going to do the same thing to you, only worse.’ ”

Sheridan told VanWinkle he wasn’t going to threaten her, and she walked away with the two corrections officers, she said. She had planned to visit with four other clients in jail, but “was too shaken up and scared.”

She has been threatened by other clients in the past, but often recognized that they were blowing off steam because she was “dealing with people in the worst situations in their lives,” she said.

Sheridan worked as a defense attorney for more than eight years, but started looking for other employment after VanWinkle’s threats, she said. She went to work last month as general counsel for the Federal Way School District.

“I had trouble going into the jail without having a panic attack, and I felt like I could not fully serve my clients,” Sheridan said.

This story was originally published August 2, 2016 at 7:53 PM with the headline "Judge testifies about inmate’s alleged threat to ‘chop’ him up."