A New Mexico courthouse was evacuated Tuesday because a district judge received more than 200 threats after granting bond to five suspects accused of child abuse at a rural compound, CNN reported.
Barry Massey, communications officer for the New Mexico Administrative Office of the Courts, said the threats against Judge Sarah Backus included one from a man who said her "throat would be slit," and another who said "she wishes someone would come and smash the judge's head," KOB-TV reported.
After four hours of testimony in a Taos County courtroom Monday, Backus decided the suspects in the disturbing case were not a threat to the community.
The five were arrested after 11 emaciated children were found on the property this month. In addition, Abdul-Ghani Wahhaj, a missing Georgia boy, died during a religious ritual intended to cast out demonic spirits from his body, and his remains were kept on the compound, according to prosecutors.
Backus granted each suspect an unsecured bond, triggering more than 200 threats, Massey told CNN, adding people also lashed out on social media.
Most callers have criticized the judge and the decision and called her names, such as "an Islamic terrorist sympathizer" or "disgusting garbage human," Massey said, the outlet reported.
"What I've seen in the community is a lot of anger over the issue and anger that scares me with how people are reacting," Jill Kline, a Taos community advocate, told KOB-TV. "I mean, I'm seeing things that look like responses of vigilante justice that simply aren't going to solve the problem."
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