NORWICH – Michael D. Richardson, 36, formerly of Bainbridge, was sentenced Wednesday to a determinate sentence of seven years in state prison by the Honorable Martin E. Smith following his conviction in April for making a terroristic threat, a class D violent felony.

It was alleged that Richardson, in two letters addressed to his mother-in-law and his estranged wife in July of last year, expressed detailed accounts of his intent to perform acts of violence directed at a number of people including many individuals employed by county government, as well as a judge, alleged to be retired Judge W. Howard Sullivan.

During the April trial, Richardson admitted to having written the letters, which included a number of conceivably hostile comments such as how he wanted to “walk slowly up to the judge and place a .45 slug in between his eyes before jumping back into a stolen car,” or “these county officials are way too easy for me to get my hands on,” as well as descriptions of how he could attain explosives from a unspecified New Jersey resident, and admissions of his own fear of what he is capable of doing.

“This defendant has a substantial history of violent convictions and basically threatened to shoot a judge in the head,” said District Attorney Joseph McBride prior to sentencing. While arguing for the maximum possible sentence, McBride pointed out that – in a probationary report – Richardson accepted no responsibility for what the district attorney equated to the bullying of a presiding Chenango County judge who disagreed with Richardson.

“For these reasons I ask that Mr. Richardson be removed from society for the longest period possible with a message; that if you threaten a Chenango County judge and have violent priors, you will go away.”

The defense, represented by Kelly E. Fischer, argued for a lighter sentence on the basis that the letters were never intended to reach Judge Sullivan and were simply ventilations of frustrations, not descriptions of impulses which Richardson ever intended to act upon.