Man who threatened Obama’s life is back in jail

A man who served five years in federal prison for threatening to kill then-President Barack Obama was back in court Thursday as federal prosecutors sought to revoke his supervised release after he made statements indicating he was considering suicide before federal probation officials lost track of him.

James Thomas Dickson was indicted in March 2015 on seven counts of threatening to kill the president. On Nov. 1, 2017, he was sentenced to five years of imprisonment and two years of supervised release by U.S. District Judge Brian Miller after he pleaded guilty to one count, with the government agreeing to dismiss the remaining six counts.

U.S. probation officials filed a petition for warrant for Dickson on June 15 after it was learned that Dickson had been expelled from the chemical-free-living program at Chance Sobriety in North Little Rock on June 11, then failed to report to the probation office. The petition said Dickson contacted his mental health therapist, reported experiencing suicidal ideations and was told to go to the emergency room at UAMS Medical Center, but he never showed up.

After U.S. Magistrate Judge Patricia Harris explained Dickson’s rights and the legal process before him Thursday, she appointed Jordan Tinsley of Little Rock to

represent Dickson as his legal counsel.

Through Tinsley, Dickson waived his right to a preliminary hearing and reserved the right to request a bond hearing “at the appropriate time,” then Tinsley asked Harris to look into a complaint his client had made regarding his confinement.

“He advised me that he arrived at Pulaski County at 2 a.m. last night and he’s been continuously handcuffed since that time,” Tinsley said.

Tinsley noted that in the time since Dickson arrived at the jail, he had not been assigned a bed, and he asked Harris to direct the U.S. Marshals Service to look into Dickson’s complaints.

“I’ll do that,” Harris said. “After this hearing I’ll reach out to the marshals and have them reach out to Pulaski County and try to get that taken care of. I don’t know why he wouldn’t be in a bed at this point.”

Dickson cut in at that time to tell Harris that after he arrived at the jail he was handcuffed and placed on a steel table.

“They said they would get to me when they had time,” Dickson said. “I asked them again at midnight last night and they said I won’t get out of cuffs until the marshals come and pick me up.”

“I’ll have the marshals reach out about that,” Harris said. “My office will contact the Marshals Service and notify them of this situation and ask the marshals to make contact with Pulaski County about it.”

“If he’s not staying in Pulaski County I can understand them not wanting to give him a bed but I see no reason why they should have him handcuffed for hours like that,” Tinsley said.

“There may be some reason that’s not clear to me,” Harris said, “but based on what you’re telling me, no, he doesn’t need to be cuffed that long.”