Nigerian Man Sentenced To Life In U.S. Prison For Attempting To Kill State District Judge

A Nigerian man has been sentenced to life in Federal prison for racketeering schemes that involved the capital murder of State District Judge Julie Kocurek.

A federal judge yesterday sentenced 31-year-old Chimene Hamilton Onyeri to life in federal prison for his leadership role in carrying out fraud and racketeering schemes that involved the attempted capital murder of State District Court Judge Julie Kocurek in November of 2015.

In addition to the prison term, U.S. District Judge Lee Yeakel ordered Onyeri to pay $178,374.41 restitution.

“Today’s life sentence for Mr. Onyeri was about more than obtaining a measure of justice for Judge Kocurek—although we certainly did that.  It was also about safeguarding the integrity of our judicial system.  This office, along with our federal, state, and local law-enforcement partners, will be absolutely relentless in pursuing those who attack or threaten judges or court staff.  Impartial, fearless judges are key to the rule of law.  Today the rule of law was vindicated,” stated U.S. Attorney Bash.

On April 26, 2018, a jury convicted Onyeri of one count of conspiracy to violate the Racketeering Influenced Corrupt Organization (RICO) statute, one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud, two counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, seven counts of aggravated identity theft, and six counts of witness tampering.