The Pembina County man accused of threatening to harm the acting U.S. Attorney for North Dakota as well as several state officials pleaded not guilty during his first in-person appearance in a Fargo courtroom on Friday.
Charles Dalzell, 46, was present with his attorney Rhiannon Gorham for the hearing, which was an arraignment for a grand jury indictment issued June 26. A previous arraignment scheduled for June 27 was canceled.
Dalzell appeared to cry throughout the reading of the charges against him by Magistrate Judge Alice Senechal. The case stems from a criminal complaint brought against him on June 16, the day after he allegedly emailed threats to Acting U.S. Attorney Jennifer Puhl, referencing the violent shootings, two fatal, of two legislators and their spouses on June 14 in Minnesota.
He is also accused of threatening to harm Gov. Kelly Armstrong, Attorney General Drew Wrigley and a state court judge in his email to Puhl.
“Now I’m going to be honest with you I don’t want this situation to end up like Minnesota over the weekend, do you,” Dalzell’s email to Puhl read, in part, according to the complaint. “I’m trying to get all of you to actually follow the law, not ignore me, not lie to me … that is what you all have done and this makes me wonder if these bad situations are really what you want or do you hope that I flip out and end up dead by a police officer?”
Prosecutors said Dalzell tried to retrieve a gun that had been confiscated from him just days before he sent the email.
He was ordered to be detained pending his trial, which Senechal tentatively set for Sept. 9.
Three prosecutors from South Dakota’s U.S. Attorney’s office have been appointed to try the case for the government, but the case is scheduled to proceed in the District of North Dakota.
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