Crimes: criminal threats.

Assembly Member Pacheco's proposal to modify California's criminal threats statute would allow courts to consider threats against judges or court commissioners as an aggravating factor during felony sentencing. The amendment builds upon existing law that criminalizes credible threats of death or great bodily injury.

Under current statute, individuals who make willful threats that cause sustained fear for personal safety can face either misdemeanor charges with county jail time or felony charges with state prison sentences. The proposed change specifically addresses threats targeting judicial officials by adding language that permits courts to weigh such threats as an aggravating circumstance when determining felony sentences. The bill defines judicial officials according to existing Government Code classifications for judges and court commissioners.

The amendment maintains the core elements required to establish a criminal threat violation: the threat must be unequivocal, convey immediate prospect of execution, and reasonably cause sustained fear. It preserves existing definitions of "immediate family" as spouses, parents, children, close relatives, and household members, while retaining the broad interpretation of electronic communications to include various technological devices like phones, computers, and messaging systems.