Man charged with stalking, accused of sending Wisconsin's chief justice
intimidating emails
[October 22, 2025]
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Prosecutors have charged a Wisconsin man
with stalking after he allegedly sent liberal state Supreme Court
Justice Jill Karofsky a series of intimidating emails.
Ryan Thornton, 37, of Racine was charged Monday with one felony count of
stalking. He faces up to 3 1/2 years in prison if convicted. His
attorney, listed in court records as public defender Britney Dickey,
declined to comment on the case when reached at her office Tuesday. |
Dane County Circuit Court Judge Jill Karofsky speaks in Madison, Wis.,
on Nov. 19, 2019. (John Hart/Wisconsin State Journal via AP, File) |
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According to a criminal complaint, Thornton sent Karofsky nine
emails between the beginning of August and the beginning of
October accusing her of being manipulative, telling her to
“eject” herself from office and asking for her home address.
In one message he told her to call the Capitol Police
Department. “What a democrat idea, tho," he wrote, according to
the complaint. In another message he asked if she wanted to be
part of his helicopter videos, which police took to mean that
Thornton believed helicopters were watching him.
Karofsky told investigators she has received numerous threats
since she became a judge in 2017, but Thornton's messages
frightened her to the point that she was afraid to leave her
house to get her mail and asked police to escort her to her seat
during a Milwaukee Brewers game and a Wisconsin Badger game.
Thornton made profane remarks about Karofsky and said she was
“going down” during an interview with investigators, according
to the complaint. He told the investigators to call President
Donald Trump and that Karofsky “better start running or
something for the hills of the feds because it's a conspiracy.”
Thornton said he was upset with an attorney that he hired to
represent him in a 2019 strangulation case and that the Office
of Lawyer Regulation, a Supreme Court office that disciplines
attorneys, hasn't investigated the lawyer. According to the
complaint, Thornton called the office more than 70 times from
Aug. 1 to Oct. 1 to complain about the attorney.
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