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Judge says threat was 'facetious'

FRANKFORT, Ky., Oct. 4 (UPI) -- A Kentucky judge says he was kidding when he threatened to "strangle" a lawyer who called him on his cell phone about a hearing in a death row inmate's appeal.

Martin McDonald, a former deputy sheriff and now a senior judge, said the remark was "facetious," The Louisville Courier-Journal reported. McDonald told David Barron, an assistant public advocate, never to call him again unless the opposing counsel was involved.

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Barron, who represents Roger Dale Epperson, who was sentenced to death for two killings in the 1980s, said he made the call to the judge about a scheduling problem with the permission of the opposing lawyer.

McDonald made the threat during a videotaped hearing Friday, the Courier-Journal said.

"If you ever call me on my cellphone again, I'll strangle you," the judge said on tape, adding a threat to get Barron's law license "yanked" if he called without the opposing lawyer.

McDonald has a history of controversies. He was removed from a civil case in mid-September for bias.

He also once described a murder defendant as an "animal," said jurors "kind of missed it" when they returned a verdict of manslaughter instead of murder and sanctioned a juror who produced two doctors' notes to show he was sick.

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McDonald, 54, has formally retired but remains on senior status. In Kentucky, that allows judges to serve for an additional period of up to 600 days to increase their pensions.

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