Nevada Attorney General Aaron D. Ford announced the sentencing of Matthew Carter, a Reno man who sent death threats to multiple Nevada elected officials, to six to 15 years in prison. The sentence was handed down on Wednesday, Oct. 12 by Judge Egan Walker with the Second Judicial District Court, Department 7.
“Carter’s actions were repugnant and beyond the pale, and my office will never tolerate such behavior,” said AG Ford. “Political disagreement is not an excuse for harassment or threatening the lives of elected officials. We must be better than this. As long as I am attorney general, my office will prosecute actions such as this to the fullest extent of the law.”
Carter was found guilty in September of three counts of Aggravated Stalking – a category B felony – and one count of misdemeanor harassment. He received a sentence of two to five years for each felony, which will be served consecutively, and a six-month concurrent sentence for the misdemeanor.
In the leadup to and aftermath of the 2020 general election, Carter sent multiple racist and threatening messages to U.S. Attorney Jason Frierson, who previously served as speaker of the Nevada Assembly; State Treasurer Zach Conine; Gov. Steve Sisolak’s Chief of Staff Yvanna Cancela, who previously served as a state senator; Assemblyman Steve Yeager; Assemblywoman Lesley Cohen; and Assemblywoman Brittney Miller.
Carter’s messages included support for ongoing, demonstrably false conspiracy theories that the 2020 election was stolen. Carter’s threats, which contained reprehensible language including racial slurs and references toward lynching, cited the passage of expanded mail-in voting ahead of the election as a reason for his promised violence toward elected officials.
As AG Ford has previously and repeatedly stated, the 2020 election was free and fair, with no evidence of widespread voter fraud.
