The killing of U.S. District Judge John M. Roll comes two years after he received death threats while he presided over a $32 million civil-rights lawsuit filed by illegal immigrants against an Arizona rancher.
When Roll ruled the case could go forward, U.S. Marshal David Gonzales said in 2009 that talk-radio shows cranked up the controversy and spurred audiences into making threats.
In one afternoon, Roll logged more than 200 phone calls. Callers threatened the judge and his family. They posted personal information about Roll online.
"They said, 'We should kill him. He should be dead,'" Gonzales said.
In an interview with The Arizona Republic in mid-2009, Roll, who was the chief federal judge in Arizona, said both he and his wife were given a protection detail for about a month.
"It was unnerving and invasive. ... By its nature it has to be," Roll said, adding that they were encouraged to live their lives as normally as possible. "It was handled very professionally by the Marshals Service."
At the end of the month, Roll said four key men had been identified as threat makers.
The Marshals Service left to him the decision to press charges but recommended against it. Roll said he had no qualms about following their advice.
The recommendation was based on the intent of those making the threats.
"I have a very strong belief that there is nothing wrong with criticizing a judicial decision," he said. "But when it comes to threats, that is an entirely different matter."
Roll started his legal career as a bailiff in the Pima County Superior Court. He served an assistant city attorney in Tucson and worked as a criminal prosecutor in Pima County before joining the U.S. Attorney's office in 1980, where he specialized in prosecuting drug cases.
He was appointed to the Arizona Appeals Court in 1987 and served until he was named to the federal bench by President George H. W. Bush in 1991.
He began serving as presiding judge in 2006.
A native of Pennsylvania, he graduated from the University of Arizona in 1969 and received his law degree from the University of Virginia in 1972.
Read more: http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2011/01/08/20110108giffords-roll-backgrounder-on.html#ixzz1AULlKqe8
