
Minneapolis man gets 10 years for death threats against Hennepin Co. employees
A Minneapolis man has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for making death threats against Hennepin County employees.
Peter Robert Berry, 60, was sentenced to 120 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release in U.S. District Court Wednesday. Part of Berry’s sentencing also includes charges related to illegal firearm possession.
Berry was indicted by a grand jury last year before pleading guilty to one count of possessing a firearm as a felon and one count of interstate transmission of a threat in June.
On June 24 of 2021, an arrest warrant was put out for Berry after he failed to appear for a hearing in Hennepin County court.
Berry called an employee with Hennepin County Community Corrections to ask questions about the court appearance, but he became angry and began threatening to “shoot up the place.” That same day, Berry also left a voicemail with a Hennepin County probation officer, demanding a call back and threatening to "kill everybody" if he didn’t get one.
The following day, on June 25, Berry called the Hennepin County Service Center employee who had informed him of the warrant. During the call, he said he would “come down and kill everybody, all the judges, clerks, and deputies.”
And finally, on June 29 of 2021, he called a Hennepin County public defender and expressed dissatisfaction with his case. He said that people would die and that he knew where the public defender lived.
On June 10 of 2020 and April 7 of 2021, Berry unlawfully possessed three firearms: a Beretta .25 caliber semi-automatic pistol, a Smith and Wesson 9 mm pistol and a Diamondback DB15 rifle. His prior felony convictions made possessing these firearms illegal under federal law.