A Cook County judge on Thursday found a man guilty of threatening then-Mayor Lori Lightfoot, who last month testified that receiving the profane and racist missive was traumatizing to her and her family.
William Kohles, of Michigan, was charged with two felony counts of threatening a public official for what prosecutors said was sending a death threat directed at Lightfoot through a city’s feedback system.
Judge Nicholas Kantas issued the ruling shortly after hearing closing arguments.
Lightfoot, who served as Chicago’s mayor from 2019 to 2023, took the stand at the Leighton Criminal Court Building in March, giving an emotional account of being informed of the letter by the commander of her security detail. She briefly testified again Thursday before watching the attorneys deliver closing arguments.
“The content of this particular threat was especially disturbing to me,” Lightfoot said last month. “The content was incredibly profane. The writer … called me the N-word, which frankly directly hadn’t happened in a very long time.”
The note, which was read aloud in court, used racial slurs and contained a threat to shoot Lightfoot if she didn’t reduce crime in the city. It was sent on Sept. 23, 2022.
“That is a threat,” Assistant Cook County State’s Attorney Elizabeth Dibler said during her closing arguments. “That is no longer just speech.”
But Kohles’ attorney Robert Fisher countered that his client was just spontaneously venting after watching a Fox News segment about violence and did not have any real intent behind the letter.
Kohles’ father testified on Thursday that his son suffered brain swelling from a childhood bout of meningitis and sometimes acts childishly.
Fisher called the content of the message “deplorable” but said Kohles has disabilities.
“The state jumps to this conclusion that he absolutely knew what he was doing,” Fisher said. “I don’t think he did.”
Prosecutors argued that they do not have to prove that he “would have carried out or would have the capacity to carry out the crime.”