By Frank Parlato

NEW HAVEN — A Connecticut judge on Tuesday sentenced Paul Boyne, the 64-year-old Virginia blogger behind The Family Court Circus, to 20 years in prison followed by 10 years of special parole with conditions that include monitored internet use.

Superior Court Judge Peter L. Brown imposed the sentence in New Haven. The state Probation Department’s presentence investigation report had recommended a 10-year term. Brown doubled it.

A jury in March convicted Boyne on all 18 counts — 12 counts of first-degree stalking and six counts of electronic stalking.

The charges arose from posts on thefamilycourtcircus.com targeting Connecticut family court judges Jane K. Grossman, Elizabeth J. Stewart, and former Judge Thomas G. Moukawsher.

Prosecutors charged the case as a hate crime, citing antisemitic language in the posts and references to firearms, calibers, and the judges’ home addresses and vehicles. The hate crime finding elevated first-degree stalking from a Class D to a Class C felony.

What the Blog Said

The blog called the Connecticut judiciary the “JEW-dicial” branch. It published judges’ addresses, vehicle descriptions, and license plate numbers. It mentioned rifles and calibers.

A post about Judge Grossman asked whether she was “begging for a .308 shot to the head thru two panes of window glass from an oath keeper, concealed in the woods behind her house.”

Jane Grossman - Frank Report — Judge Jane Kupson Grossman

A photo of Judge Moukawsher appeared in a rifle crosshair with the caption: “It is JUST CAUSE when Mouk gets a .50 cal to the head.”

Judge Moukawsher - Frank Report — Boynes published image of Moukawsher

Another post read: “nothing changes until bullets start flying. Since 1776, bullets raise the issues and settle the score, from a colonial musket ball to a .50 cal max of today, bullets really do work wonders.”

A post about a family court litigant named Moukawsher “a retarded jewdicial miscreant” who “fucks over childhood to generate shekels for his demonic foot soldiers.”

The posts were online for years. None of the three judges sought a restraining order. No judge was harmed.

The Defendant

Boyne, a U.S. Naval Academy graduate and former Navy nuclear engineer, wrote the posts from his parents’ home in Springfield, Virginia. He never traveled to Connecticut in connection with the conduct alleged. He was arrested in October 2023 following a predawn raid by Virginia authorities and extradited to Connecticut, where he spent 18 months in pretrial custody before being released on bond. Judge Brown remanded him to custody after the March verdict.

Boyne’s grievance with Connecticut’s family courts originated in his 2007 divorce. His parental rights were terminated, and he lost contact with his children.

The Sentencing Hearing

Grossman testified at the sentencing hearing. In her statement, she said the justice system itself was under attack and asked for a sentence sufficient to deter others.

Moukawsher did not appear. His written statement was read aloud by a probation officer and invoked the Sandy Hook shootings, the murders of the family of U.S. District Judge Joan Lefkow, the killing of U.S. District Judge Esther Salas’s son, and January 6.

Boyne’s defense, led by attorney Todd Bussert, had argued the posts were protected political speech under the First Amendment, citing the Supreme Court’s 2023 decision in Counterman v. Colorado and its 1969 decision in Watts v. United States. The defense noted that none of the three judges sought a restraining order, that Boyne never sent the posts to the judges, and that no judge was harmed in the years the blog was online.

The state had offered Boyne a misdemeanor plea with a sentence of time served before trial. He rejected it.

A Sentence Greater Than the Acts

Twenty years is the statutory maximum for first-degree assault in Connecticut — a Class B felony that covers shooting, stabbing, and disfiguring another person.

It is the same range a defendant faces for attempted murder.

In practice, defendants who actually assault judges in Connecticut rarely receive 20 years. Threatening a judicial officer in the first degree is a Class D felony carrying up to five years. Second-degree assault on a judicial official is a Class D felony carrying up to five years.

Boyne never came to Connecticut. Boyne never approached a judge. Boyne never sent a letter, an email, or a text message to any of the three complainants. He wrote posts on a blog.

For that, he received a sentence at the top of the range reserved for defendants who actually shoot or stab their victims — and longer than most defendants who actually assault judges receive.

The Defendant’s Health

Boyne is diabetic and takes multiple medications. Judge Tracy Dayton had previously ordered immediate treatment for his diabetes during a prior detention period. According to the Social Security Administration’s 2022 actuarial life table, a 64-year-old man has an average remaining life expectancy of approximately 18 years.

A 20-year sentence is, on the actuarial math alone, more likely than not to outlive him.

As he was led from the courtroom, Boyne said the ruling had “chilled the marketplace of ideas.”

The Appeal

Realistically, Boyne is looking at four to seven years before a federal court rules on the merits of his constitutional claims — through the Connecticut Appellate Court, the Connecticut Supreme Court, a U.S. Supreme Court cert petition, and finally federal habeas review under § 2254. Connecticut’s appellate clock and Boyne’s actuarial clock are running against each other, and the appellate clock is the slower one.

Cutting Off His nose

Boyne was offered a misdemeanor and time served. He turned it down to make a First Amendment point — in the same Connecticut court system he had spent years calling corrupt, before judges who are colleagues of the three he was accused of threatening.

He could have taken the deal, gone home to Virginia, and made the First Amendment fight again from the outside, on a new blog post, on his terms, with his liberty intact.

Boyne had been thecaretaker for his elderly parents in Springfield. With him in a Connecticut prison for what is likely the rest of his life, two more people who had nothing to do with any of this will pay the price of his stand.