The federal appeals court based in Denver agreed on Friday that a federal judge was within his rights to dismiss an incarcerated man’s lawsuit because he repeatedly made death threats against a magistrate judge and an El Paso County jail deputy.

When he filed suit last year, Conrad J. Czajkowski resided at the county jail, where he faced numerous charges. Czajkowski alleged one of the deputies was keeping him wrongfully locked down, harassing him and throwing things at him.

Czajkowski was ordered to amend his complaint because his allegations failed to demonstrate constitutional violations. However, in the process, Czajkowski’s numerous filings and letters to the court clearly threatened the deputy’s life:

• “I will go up killing (the deputy) if another incident occurs”

• “I fear not only for my life but that I will end up killing (the deputy)”

• “I’m going to kill this piece of s–t”

Eventually, Czajkowski made similar violent remarks toward U.S. Magistrate Judge Susan Prose:

• “You have then become a ‘credible’ and ‘deadly’ threat TO MY LIFE!”

• “If I get a chance you’re f—ing dead”

On Feb. 5, U.S. District Court Senior Judge Lewis T. Babcock dismissed Czajkowski’s lawsuit and barred him from refiling it. Babcock cited Czajkowski’s “threatening, abusive and vitriolic filings” menacing Prose and the jail deputy, despite being warned.

“Plaintiff’s conduct has interfered with the judicial process because rather than attending to the merits of this and other cases on the court’s docket, the court has been required to devote attention to Plaintiff’s malicious and abusive behavior,” Babcock wrote.

Czajkowski appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit, where he claimed he “only ‘threatened’ Susan Prose because she was usurping her declared judicial power.” Czajkowski sent a separate letter to the 10th Circuit telling it to “go f–k” itself and asserting, “You work for me, I don’t work for you.”

A three-judge panel of the 10th Circuit agreed dismissal of the lawsuit was appropriate and there was no free speech defense to Czajkowski’s threats.

“We are certain that no federal court would hold that a death threat can be justified on such grounds,” the panel wrote in its unsigned Oct. 25 order.

The case is Czajkowski v. Richardson.