A federal jury in Dallas convicted a 67-year-old man on Wednesday of mailing threatening letters to federal judges and sending hoax biological weapons to the Fort Worth federal courthouse, authorities said.
Donald Ray McCray of Dallas was found guilty on three counts of mailing threatening communications to U.S. District Court judges in the Northern District of Texas and the Eastern District of New York, and one count of sending hoax biological weapons to the Fort Worth federal courthouse. The verdict came after a two-day trial and one hour of jury deliberation.
U.S. Attorney Ryan Raybould announced the conviction on Thursday in a Department of Justice news release.
“Threats and disruptions to the orderly functioning of our federal courts will not be tolerated. And anyone who threatens a NDTX federal judge or NDTX employee will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” Raybould said. “With this verdict, North Texas residents held the defendant accountable for his threats and attempts to undermine our judiciary.”
Evidence showed McCray sent the letters while he was incarcerated in a Texas state prison. In March 2025, he mailed multiple threatening communications containing white powder to the clerks of court at the Fort Worth and Amarillo federal courthouses. The letters threatened to kill multiple state and federal government employees, including federal district court judges.
After his indictment in June 2025, McCray appeared at a federal court hearing and made additional threats against government employees and judges, according to trial evidence. One of the letters forced the shutdown of the Fort Worth courthouse and prompted a full HAZMAT response from multiple agencies.
The government also presented evidence of McCray’s 2019 Texas state court conviction for threatening a state judge under similar circumstances. Jurors saw the threatening letters, transcripts from the earlier hearing, and results of HAZMAT testing on the white powder.
FBI Dallas Special Agent in Charge R. Joseph Rothrock said authorities take such threats seriously.
“The FBI takes threats to federal officials and courthouse personnel seriously. We would like to thank our state, local, and federal law enforcement partners who assisted in this investigation. This collaborative effort ensured that this offender was held accountable for threatening our judicial system,” Rothrock said.
McCray faces sentencing on August 19 before U.S. District Judge Brantley Starr, who presided over the trial. He could receive up to 10 years in federal prison on each threatening-communications count and up to five years on the hoax biological weapons count, along with a possible $250,000 fine.
The case was investigated by the FBI, U.S. Marshals Service, U.S. Postal Inspection Service, Fort Worth Police Department, Fort Worth Fire Department, Dallas County Department of Health and Human Services, Tarrant County Department of Public Health, Texas Tech Biological Threat Research Laboratory, and the Texas Department of Criminal Justice Office of Inspector General.