Muncie man sentenced to prison for violent threat made to juvenile magistrate

MUNCIE, Ind. (WISH) — On Tuesday, a Muncie man was sentenced to four years in prison for threatening to “blow up” the home of a juvenile magistrate if they did not rule in his favor.

In April, John Armstrong, 38, made the threat during a case hearing that Juvenile Magistrate Amanda Yonally was overseeing in her court. On May 11, Armstrong pled guilty to intimidation.

Previous to the explicit threat, Armstrong is reported to have had a handgun in plain sight during Zoom meetings with Yonally.

Delaware County Prosecuting Attorney Eric Hoffman said in a statement, “I will not tolerate threats of violence made against judicial officials or attempts at intimidating them. This type of conduct threatens our entire system of government. The judiciary enforces our constitution and our laws and as such they depend on the litigants and the public to respect their judgments and obey their court orders – whether you
agree with them or not.”