Man charged with threatening president appears in court

Daniel James Murray, the native New Yorker who was charged with threatening to kill President Obama, appeared in federal court this afternoon and invoked his Sixth Amendment right to a speedy and public trial.

Murray, 36, has made more than one threat against Obama, according to prosecutors. On May 22, Murray placed a hollow-point bullet on the desk of a Los Angeles Fire Department secretary and said he “was going to see the president,” according to Assistant U.S. Attorney Amber Craig.

On May 27, Craig said Murray told a Utah bank teller: “We are on a mission to kill the president of the United States.”

Obama was in Las Vegas May 26 and May 27, but there is no indication Murray was also in the city. Murray, a transient, is expected to enter a plea after he is transferred to Salt Lake City sometime this month.