He threatened a judge. He threatened prosecutors. Now he’s headed back to prison

A 45-year-old Tri-Cities man screwed up a good deal that he was offered for a crime spree by talking too much.

Brandon VanWinkle was nearly all of the way through a plea agreement that would have taken years off his sentence when he said he wasn’t responsible for threatening Deputy Prosecutor Brittnie Roehm.

“The only thing I was looking from you was an apology,” Judge Jacqueline Stam said before adding about half a year more onto his two-year prison sentence. “I never heard you say, ‘You’re sorry.’ ... I am concerned that you’re not taking any responsibility.”

Stam still gave VanWinkle a much lesser sentence than he could have faced for the crime.

Thursday’s guilty plea brought an end to VanWinkle’s yearlong string of crimes, including threatening a judge and two deputy prosecutors and damaging a jail bathroom.

Those incidents came after being arrested for stealing items at a Columbia Center mall clothing store.

His time in jail was marked with claims he was the Messiah and sent back to Earth to study the criminal justice system.

VanWinkle admitted to misdemeanor assault, third-degree theft, second-degree malicious mischief, intimidating a judge and two counts of intimidating a public servant.

Deputy Prosecutor Brendan Siefken and Defense Attorney Ian Sinclair said his stay at Eastern State psychiatric hospital had helped him curb his impulses.

“I’ve observed a change of behavior in the courtroom,” Siefken said. “He’s spent a good portion of the last 15 to 18 years of his life incarcerated. I do not wish to see him back here.”

Sinclair agreed, saying putting these crimes behind him will possibly give him a new lease on life.

While VanWinkle spent most of his time at his sentencing talking about how he wasn’t guilty of the crimes he had just pleaded to, he did say that his mental health treatment and medication helped him.

Significant cut

VanWinkle’s cases were divided into two groups. Siefken handled three of them, and because he was one of the two victims in the fourth case it was handled by Franklin County Deputy Prosecutor Daniel Stovern.

All four were resolved together, and the highest potential sentence range, he faced was about 6 1/2 years and 8 1/2 years for intimidating a judge.

The two deputy prosecutors both agreed to a two year and one month sentence for VanWinkle.

Siefken said the drop in his cases came about because witnesses didn’t feel like testifying, one of them wasn’t credible and the mental health treatment appeared to help.

But when it came to the final case, he faced a potential four years in prison at a minimum, and Roehm didn’t feel like it was enough time in prison.

“I do not believe there were any facts that would warrant an exceptional sentence down,” she said. “I don’t believe this recommendation is appropriate.”

This spurred VanWinkle to say that it was three unnamed women who had threatened Roehm and he was just passing along a warning. He didn’t believe the women would carry out the threats.

Stam responded by pointing out that he didn’t appear to understand the impact of his actions against people who were merely trying to do their jobs.

VanWinkle tried to apologize after the fact, but Stam said it was too late. She added seven months onto the sentence, bringing it to a total of two years and eight months in prison.

“I’m taking into consideration that you’re different now,” the judge said, adding that if he came back in front of her for another crime, she would not be as lenient.

Yearlong series of crimes

VanWinkle had been out of prison for about 10 months after serving five years for threatening to kill Judge Alex Ekstrom in 2016, when he got into trouble again.

When he was released from prison in April 2021, he was supposed to stay in touch with the Department of Corrections.

He stopped reporting in November, and then, two months later, he was caught stealing clothes at a store at the mall.

When an employee tried to stop him, he hit her in the face.

He was arrested and four days later he had a destructive outburst in the jail, including throwing feces, breaking things and spitting blood and saliva. He was charged with malicious mischief for that outburst.

The day VanWinkle was supposed to be court on those charges, Judge Ekstrom was the judge hearing cases that day. Since he was the victim of VanWinkle’s previous threats, the judge removed himself from hearing the case and rescheduled for another judge.

When a jail corrections officer told VanWinkle about the delay, he allegedly told the officer “to tell him (Ekstrom) that I’m going to kill him,” according to court documents.

Then he sent a letter to Roehm saying his friends were going to follow her home and attack her for charging him “with crimes he did not commit,” according to court records.

The letter went on to say that he didn’t order this, but he can’t stop it because he is in jail.

The cases then had to be transferred to a different deputy prosecutor, and VanWinkle sent another letter, this one claimed that members of the Gypsy Jokers motorcycle gang would wait for that deputy prosecutor after work and follow him home and shoot him.

“They said they will handle the prosecutor for charging me for charges I never committed,” VanWinkle wrote. “It’s out of my hands. I would try to help you, but you got me on lock for some charges I never committed.”

It’s unclear if VanWinkle has any ties to the Gypsy Jokers.

Both attorneys believed that he was trying to influence their decisions by sending the letters.