Dallas Man Convicted for Mailing Threats to Federal District Judges

A Dallas federal jury convicted a man of three counts of mailing threatening communications and hoax biological weapons to district court judges in Texas and New York.

The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Texas announced the conviction in a Thursday press release. According to the release, the decision follows a two-day trial and a single hour of deliberation from the jury.

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Donald Ray McCray, 67, was convicted of sending mail threatening communications to several U.S. district court judges in the Northern District of Texas and the Eastern District of New York.

Additionally, McCray was convicted on one count of sending hoax biological weapons to the Texas Federal Courthouse in Fort Worth.

"Threats and disruptions to the orderly functioning of our federal courts will not be tolerated," said Ryan Raybould, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas. "And anyone who threatens a NDTX federal judge or NDTX employee will be prosecuted to the fullest extend of the law."

He continued, "With this verdict, North Texas residents held the defendant accountable for his threats and attempts to undermine our judiciary."

McCray sent the threatening letters containing white powder to the clerk of courts at the Fort Worth and Amarillo federal courthouses in March 2025 while incarcerated at a Texas state prison, according to evidence presented at trial.

In the letters, McCray threatened the lives of multiple state and federal government employees, including district court judges. After being indicted last summer, McCray appeared at a hearing in federal court and made further threats against government employees and district court judges.

McCray's sentencing is set for August and will be decided by U.S. District Judge Brantley Starr, who presided over the trial. McCray faces a potential 10 years in federal prison on each count of mailing threatening communications and up to five years in federal prison for the hoax biological weapons conviction.