Dad Threatens NH Judge Over Child Support Order

A South Berwick man was charged with making threats to fatally stab a New Hampshire judge over his decision ordering him to pay child support.

Attorney General John M. Formella said that Christopher Butler, 36, threatened Judge Philip Cross in a profanity-filled phone call on March 16 to the New Hampshire Judicial Branch Court Information Center.

Butler was angry that Cross had ordered him to pay $650 in retroactive back child support and then $50 per month despite being unemployed and terminally ill with emphysema, according to a probable cause statement.

"I don't know how to approach this judge because I genuinely want to stab him in the f**king eye with a pen and keep on repeatedly doing it because of his s**t f**k decisions," Miller said in a transcript of his call to the information center.

He talked about bringing a ceramic knife to the courthouse because he did not believe they could be detected by a metal detector.

Butler was charged on two class B felony counts of harm or threats to certain
government officials, and one count class A misdemeanor count of criminal
threatening. He is scheduled for arraignment in Merrimack County Superior Court on Tuesday.

Contact reporter Dan Alexander at Dan.Alexander@townsquaremedia.com or via Twitter @DanAlexanderNH