Colorado man sent to prison for threatening prosecutor, judge: "Get them both 24hr police protection"

A 35-yar-old Lone Tree resident was sentenced to a dozen years in the Colorado Department of Corrections last month after threatening a neighbor with a baseball bat, then threatening the prosecutor and judge in that case. 

Vishal Bhatt accused the judge and prosecutor of conducting a racist "witch hunt" in a series of emails to a pre-trial supervisor, a person assigned to his case as part of Bhatt's release from jail. 

"Every one of you white hoods in that court really think you can get away with anything, huh? Wrong," Bhatt stated, according to an arrest affidavit. "Send me to jail, and all your people are completely safe, right? Wrong again. You people think you can destroy my life over running a stop sign?"

Bhatt was initially arrested in March 2022 by a Douglas County Sheriff's Office deputy after Bhatt's altercation with a neighbor. That neighbor had approached Bhatt about driving too fast through the neighborhood south of Altair Park. The neighbor claimed Bhatt almost hit a child on a bicycle with his vehicle. 

Bhatt admitted to the deputy that he ran a stop sign. 

Both men and two other witnesses - one of them an off-duty police officer - described Bhatt retaliating to the neighbor's complaint by walking onto the neighbor's property with the baseball bat. He took a stance as if about to swing it at the neighbor, they said. The neighbor and the off-duty officer both said Bhatt placed the bat against the neighbor's chest and neck during the confrontation. 

After the incident, a bail bondsman posted a $25,000 surety bond to gain Bhatt's release from jail.  

According to the Douglas County pre-trial supervision website, Bhatt was required to report to the facility with 24 hours of his release. He did not. Instead, the supervisor reached out Bhatt, requesting Bhatt's cooperation with the terms of his release. Otherwise, the supervisor stated, a report would be filed with the court.

"Go ahead, send a report every time," Bhatt replied by email, according to the affidavit. "Then issue a warrant and send the pigs (your gonna need SWAT). We have something for them and will be waiting."

Months later, as the pre-trial supervisor continued to press for Bhatt's cooperation, Bhatt began threatening the judge and prosecutor in the case. 

"You send 25 pigs to arrest me huh, princess?," Bhatt wrote, per the affidavit. "Drop ALL CHARGES IMMEDIATELY!!

"I won't be complying with your prejudice (sic) Klan meeting you call a hearing," he wrote later. "There is zero chance I'm letting a bunch of racist trash like (prosecutor) and (judge) force me to be subjected to false charges with a full cracker jury. No minorities on the jury equal no defendant, and even if I complied with your witch hunt; there is no scenario in which (the confronted neighbor) and his family will ever be safe in Colorado ever again. So make you (sic) move, and l'll make mine." 

A year after his first arrest, Bhatt sent another email to the pre-trial supervisor: "Let me make myself clear. I have both (prosecutor) and (judge)'s home addresses. In would be wise to get them both 24hr police protection. 

"Your (sic) court will not be convicting me of any fraud charges without major repercussions."

A warrant for Bhatt's arrest on the new threats was issued the same day. 

The remaining hearings in both cases were handled by a special prosecutor and a handful of judges. 

Last month, Bhatt pleaded guilty to felony menacing and aggravated intimidation in relation to the neighbor confrontation. He was sentenced to 12 years in state prison on those charges. He also was sentenced to 6 years for the threats against the judge. That sentence runs concurrently, or simultaneously, as the 12-year sentence. 

"Threatening the prosecutor and judge assigned to your case won't make it go away," District Attorney John Kellner stated in a press release announcing Bhatt's sentences. "Things will only get worse, as this defendant learned with a well-deserved prison sentence. I'm grateful for my team holding this man accountable, and for DA Michael Allen and the 4th Judicial District, who served as special prosecutor on the retaliation case."  

The presiding judge in the initial neighbor confrontation case has since retired, according to a spokesman for the 18th Judicial District Attorney's Office. 

Bhatt was previously sentenced to 30 months behind bars for violating a protection order and making threats in 2016, according to the online database in Connecticut.