An Arizona man, who threatened to kill House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, has been convicted, federal prosecutors said in a statement on Friday. The man, identified as 77-year-old Steven Arthur Martis, was on Thursday convicted on one count of communicating an interstate threat.

U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Arizona said in a statement on Friday that the accused left voicemails with Speaker Pelosi’s Washington District Office on January 17.

One of the voicemails contained the threat to kill Pelosi. “I’m coming to kill you,” the voicemail said. Another said, “you’re dead.”

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He made the calls to Pelosi after the FBI had interviewed him about a message that he had sent to another member of Congress and warned him that it was against the law. 

“This case is an important reminder that, although the First Amendment protects our right to free speech, which is one of our most precious individual rights, the United States Attorney’s Office takes threats to kill or harm another individual through a phone call or other form of interstate communication very seriously,” said Acting United States Attorney Glenn B. McCormick.

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The FBI conducted the investigation with assistance from the United States Capitol Police. Assistant United States Attorneys Kristen Brook and Joseph Koehler, District of Arizona, Phoenix, handled the prosecution.

The accused is scheduled to be sentenced in January 2022. He could be sentenced to a maximum of five years in prison. 

In a similar incident, Christopher Kent Podlesnik, a 52-year-old man from Wyoming, was sentenced to 18 months in prison and a $10,000 fine after he made threats to two Republican members of Congress and a state senator. The accused pleaded guilty to four counts of transmitting threats in interstate commerce.